(Washington
DC)
Thirteen textile and apparel
trade groups from eleven NAFTA, CAFTA
and Andean region countries called on their
respective governments today to insist that
textile and apparel products be removed from the
industrial products classification in the NAMA
talks and be put in a separate sectoral on market
access during the upcoming Hong Kong
Ministerial.
The
groups noted that millions of textile and apparel
jobs in the region are threatened by devastating
tariff cuts proposed by
China
and other countries under a Swiss Formula approach
in the industrial products classification.
These tariff cuts would cause most
U.S.
textile tariffs to drop below five percent and
destroy the trade preferences currently in place
in the CAFTA, ANDEAN and NAFTA countries. Textile and apparel exports from the
CAFTA/NAFTA/ANDEAN region totaled $39 billion in
2004.
Cass
Johnson, President of NCTO, said, “The Hong Kong
Ministerial must not be a guise to hand over the
world’s textile and apparel trade to China and to
dis-enfranchise millions of workers in this
Hemisphere that depend on textiles and apparel for
their livelihoods.”
The
groups also noted that only in a separate textile
sectoral negotiation can the need for a special
safeguard or other compensating mechanism against
China’s
unfair trade practices be discussed. Prior
to the introduction of safeguards earlier this
year, Chinese textile and apparel exports to the
U.S.
and EU market increased by $9 billion while
exports from developing countries decreased by $5
billion.
The
call by the Western
Hemisphere
trade groups echoed an earlier statement by the
Global Alliance for Fair Trade in Textiles (www.fairtextiletrade.org)
which also called for a textile sectoral. GAFTT
represents textile and apparel trade groups from
more than 50 countries.
China
employs a multiple of unfair trade practices such
as currency manipulation, direct government
subsidization, subsidized energy and shipping
costs, and free credit from state banks to name a
few.
In
apparel categories removed from quota control in
2002, China
now controls 73 percent of the
U.S.
market.
