The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) praises the reintroduction of the Textile Enforcement and Security Act (TESA) in the 113th Congress. Congressmen Tom Graves (R-GA-14) and Mike McIntyre (D-NC-7) reintroduced the bill in the House of Representatives on November 20. The bill seeks to increase U.S. Customs and Border Protection enforcement activities as well as improve trade facilitation through enhanced targeting, increased resources, and greater authority.
“We commend Representatives Tom Graves and Mike McIntyre for their leadership in reintroducing TESA in the House,” stated NCTO President Auggie Tantillo. “Proper enforcement of our agreements and trade obligations is a basic necessity, not a luxury, in regard to U.S. trade policy. Enforcing these agreements must serve as a prerequisite in U.S. trade policy to preserve nearly 500,000 U.S. jobs which rely on the domestic textile and apparel industry.
"As we approach the finalization of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the beginning of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, legislation such as TESA will help ensure that U.S. workers and manufacturers have an opportunity to fairly compete in markets both at home and abroad.”
Due to the high-risk nature and the prevalence of fraud in textile and apparel imports, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) designated the textile industry as a Priority Trade Issue — yet the industry continues to experience serious fraud, particularly in the CAFTA and NAFTA regions. As the third largest exporter of textile products in the world, with nearly $23 billion in exports in 2012, the U.S. textile industry depends on strong customs enforcement for its livelihood.
The TESA legislation addresses many of the industry’s key concerns by providing CBP with expanded authority to better target fraudulent textile and apparel goods coming into the U.S., while also implementing additional tools and resources to increase the agency’s commercial enforcement efforts and reduce the prevalence of fraud that creates an uneven playing field for the U.S. textile industry.
