Contact:
Cass Johnson (202)
822-8025
For Immediate Release
Missy Branson (202)
822-8026
September
6, 2007
Chesnutt
Urges Comprehensive Nine Point Program
Against
China’s Unfair Trade Practices
NCTO
Review Finds
China
Offers Its Textile Sector 73
Subsidies
Washington,
D.C.
– Former
Chairman of NCTO and current President and
CEO
of National Spinning, Inc., Jim Chesnutt,
testifies today before the U.S.-China Economic and
Security Review Commission regarding the threat
posed by
China
in textile and apparel manufacturing and how
current trade remedies have performed in
addressing the
China
threat.
The
hearing today is the one field hearing conducted
by the Commission this year and will examine the
effect of Chinese exports of clothing, textiles
and furniture on the economy of
North
Carolina.
As a component of the hearing, the Commission will
also consider the effectiveness of current
policies in addressing the problems created by
subsidized imports from
China
including whether trade remedies, such as
antidumping penalties, are adequate to protect
jobs from unfair competition.
As part
of his testimony, Chesnutt released an NCTO
analysis shows that the Chinese government offers
its textile manufacturers 73 different
subsidies. Chesnutt criticized the
U.S.
government’s slow pace of action on
China:
“The
central issue is not what policies or practices
the central government in
Beijing
has undertaken; rather, the central issue is how
our own government has responded, or, more
accurately, has failed to respond to
China’s
deliberate economic intervention on behalf of its
citizens and its industry.”
As
an example, Chesnutt noted that the government
still has not developed a comprehensive list of
Chinese subsidies, that its WTO subsidy list has
not been updated since 2004 and that
China
is not listed on the subsidy website as having
even a single subsidy.
Chesnutt
explained that through its vast array of
subsidies,
China
has been able to gain a nearly 50 percent share of
world trade in apparel since 2000. Chesnutt said, “The
impact of
China’s
government policies on the
U.S.
and North
Carolina’s
textile industry has been nothing short of
devastating.
U.S.
textile mill shipments have declined by 25 percent
since 2000, and more than 160,000 textile workers
have lost their jobs, with 11,365 workers losing
their jobs in North
Carolina
in 2006.”
Chesnutt
proposed a nine step program that would lead to a
revitalization of
U.S.
manufacturing. Key steps
include:
1.
Pass Strong Currency
Legislation
2.
Extend
or Replace the Current
China
Textile Safeguards
3.
Create
a Comprehensive Subsidy Database on
China for
use by U.S. Manufacturers
4.
Increase
Dumping and CVD
Assistance to Small and Medium-Sized
Manufacturers
5.
Increase
and Re-Prioritize Enforcement Efforts at
USTR and
the Department of Commerce
6.
Review
China’s
Government Support of Its State-Owned Industrial
Sectors, Including Textiles, and Penalize Illegal
Transactions
7.
Increase and Reform Customs Enforcement Efforts
Targeting
China
8.
Develop
a More Effective Enforcement System that Holds
U.S.
Importers Responsible for the Products They Import
and Provides for Stronger Penalties for Those Who
Violate the Law
9.
Impose
Penalties on Companies that Import Products which
were Made by Companies Who Pollute the
Environment
Chesnutt
concluded that “as the production and job loss
statistics demonstrate,
U.S.
textile companies, as well as other manufacturing
sectors, cannot survive when they are pitted
against the Chinese government. As the
Chinese government moves to progressively target
the highest technology sectors of our economy
(including aircraft, automobiles and
semiconductors), we face the prospect of sector
after sector in the
United
States
falling before the Chinese onslaught.”
Copy
of Chesnutt’s testimony and list of textile
subsidies are attached.
Release
- Chesnutt Urges Nine Point Program Against China
Unfair Trade Practices
(PDF)
Chesnutt
China Commission Test & Attach
(PDF)
