Contact:
Robert
DuPree
October 29,
2004
(202)
756-1440
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
rfdupree@ncto.org
U.S. GOVERNMENT
AGREES TO ACCEPT INDUSTRY'S SAFEGUARD
PETITION
ON COTTON
TROUSERS IMPORTS FROM
CHINA -- DECISION
ON MERITS OF CASE EXPECTED EARLY IN
2005
The U.S.
government's inter-agency Committee for the
Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) announced
late today that it had accepted for review the unified
textile/apparel/fiber coalition's threat-based China
textile safeguard petition on men's and boys' and
women's and girl's cotton trousers (categories 347 and
348).
A Federal
Register notice of this decision is expected to be
published very shortly, triggering a 30-day public
comment followed by a 60-day window during which CITA
can make a decision at any time. CITA will also
be making decisions over the next two weeks as to
whether to accept any, some or all of the other six
China safeguard
petitions filed so far by NCTO and other coalition
members.
National
Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) Chairman
Allen
Gant released
the following statement:
"We are
extremely pleased that CITA has accepted for
consideration our cotton trousers petition based on the
threat of market disruption. This is
definitely a good first step. Hopefully, after
the 30-day public comment period, the government will
then move swiftly to actually approve our petition and
impose restraints on Chinese imports in this
category.
We believe we have a very strong case that should
be approved.
There will
also be six other petitions we have already filed that
the government must decide over the next few weeks
whether to accept for consideration, and we are hopeful
that they will accept these for review and ultimately
approve them as well.
Our
industry is looking for our government to approve these
petitions and prevent China from taking over virtually
the entire U.S. textile and apparel market, at the
expense of U.S. jobs. We have a long
way to go, and we look forward to working with the
government toward this end."
American
Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition Executive Director
Auggie
Tantillo also
released a short statement:
"This case
and the other cases that we have filed are very
strong. The
coalition conducted an enormous amount of research in
preparation for filing these cases. The evidence we
presented was substantial and overwhelming. There is no
doubt that China will surge into the U.S. market after
quotas expire in 2005. As a result, we
are confident that the U.S. government will approve this
petition early next year."
The
value of U.S. production of all trousers, including
components exported offshore for re-export to the United
States, in 2003 totaled $8.2 billion. U.S. imports of
cotton trousers exceeded $11 billion during the same
time period.
