Washington DC)  Following House passage of the CAFTA agreement, the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) applauded the strong textile-state support for the agreement.

NCTO expressed appreciation to all textile-state members of Congress who voted for this agreement, noting that a vote by these members in support of CAFTA has helped save tens of thousands of U.S. textile jobs.  By voting for CAFTA, these members have given the U.S. textile industry a platform to compete against China.    

NCTO further noted that over $4 billion in U.S. exports of textile products are at stake.  Without CAFTA, this market would have been lost to China and so would the U.S. jobs that depend on it.

Leading up to the debate on this agreement, key changes were made that make this an even stronger agreement for the U.S. textile industry.  The primary concerns with pocketings and pocketing linings, TPLs and cumulation were addressed and will amount to almost $200 million in continued and new exports to the CAFTA region, already the second largest market for U.S. manufactured textile goods.

NCTO is a member of a coalition of ten textile and apparel trade associations that have endorsed the CAFTA agreement.

Our sincere thanks and appreciation goes out to those key textile-state members who supported U.S. jobs by voting for this agreement:  Reps. Joe Bonner (AL-1), Terry Everett (AL-2), Mike Rogers (AL-3), Robert Aderholt (AL-4), Spencer Bachus (AL-6), Jack Kingston (GA-1), Tom Price (GA-6),