(Washington
DC)
The U.S.
textile industry and the labor union UNITE HERE
joined together today in the strong opposition to
the trade provisions in the New Partnership for
Development Act (NPDA) of 2007. Specific
concerns center on a section of the bill which
grants nearly one billion dollars in
U.S.
tariff exemptions to surging imports from
Bangladesh
and Cambodia
at the expense of struggling textile and apparel
producers in Africa,
Central
America
and in the
United
States.
China
is also a major beneficiary as it supplies almost
all the yarns and fabrics used in Bangladeshi and
Cambodian apparel exports.
According
to an analysis of U.S. government trade
statistics, the legislation, whose stated purpose
is to provide important global development
objectives, will actually cause widespread job
losses in least developed and developing countries
that depend on the US market for billions of
dollars in apparel exports. Workers in the
U.S.
textile industry will also be hard hit because the
industry exports $12 billion in yarns and fabrics
to these countries.
Noting
that the chief sponsor of the bill, Jim McDermott
of Washington,
is a leading Democrat on the Ways and Means
Committee, Bruce Raynor, General President of
UNITE HERE said,
Before
any more trade deals are passed I call on the
Congress to ensure that the benefits of expanding
trade are broadly shared. That means that there
should be a pause on all trade deals until we have
a credible program to reduce our massive trade
deficit, create middle class jobs in this country
and protect American workers by creating a real
safety net. And while the worker rights
provisions in this trade bill are stronger than in
past bills, I have no confidence that this
administration will enforce them.
It
is disheartening and frankly confusing that the
first major trade bill introduced by the Democrats
could end up costing tens of thousands of
U.S.
manufacturing jobs. This bill
is a disappointment to those of us who hoped that
the Democratic Congress would reverse the recently
disastrous trend of exploding trade deficits and
the off shoring of critical middle class
jobs.
Cass
Johnson,
President of the National Council of Textile
Organizations (NCTO),stated:
While
the aims of the bill are laudable, the trade
portions of the bill gives enormous new benefits
to countries that are already export superstars
while handing Wal Mart and other big importers a
one billion dollar annual tax credit. The price
tag for this lands squarely on the shoulders of
struggling
U.S.,
African and Central American workers, among
others, that are already losing out to the
Bangladesh-China connection. That price
tag is too high.
Johnson
noted that job losses in the
U.S.
textile and apparel sector have totaled 163,000,
or 23 percent, since quotas on
Bangladesh,
Cambodia
and other major suppliers were removed in
2005.
Johnson said, “Trade policy has gotten a
bad name in this country because the Congress has
a history of passing trade packages that seem
mostly designed to help out importers while
transferring good paying jobs out of this country.
While we have no argument with much of this bill,
we should not let the trade portions of this bill
repeat that mistake. We will
work hard with the many groups that will be hurt
by this bill to make sure the damaging provisions
are removed.”
A
fact sheet on the bill is
attached.
Contacts:
NCTO
Cass
Johnson
(202) 822-8025
UNITE
HERE
Mark
Levinson
(212) 414-7260
--------------------------------------------------------------------
NCTO
910
17th Street NW, Ste
1020
Washington
DC
20006
http://www.ncto.org/
UNITE
HERE!
275
7th Avenue
New
York,
NY
10001-6708
http://www.unitehere.org/
Facts
about the NPDA Bill:
Since
quotas were removed on January
1, 2005,
Bangladesh
and Cambodia’s
apparel exports have grown faster than any other
country except
China. With
exports up nearly 60% since 2004,
Bangladesh
surpassed
Mexico
last month become the second largest exporter of
apparel to the
US
market.
U.S.
imports of textile and apparel products from
Bangladesh
and Cambodia
now exceed $5.4 billion annually. This remarkable
growth has occurred while
Bangladesh
and Cambodia
have been paying full
U.S.
duties.
|
Apparel
Imports Since Quotas
Removed |
|
|
Bangladesh
&
Cambodia |
AGOA |
AGOA
LDCs |
Western
Hemisphere |
|
Change
since 2004 |
$2.0
billion |
-$437
million |
-$122
million |
-$3.0
billion |
|
Percent
Change |
58% |
-25% |
-17% |
-15% |
|
Source:
U.S.
Department of Commerce: 2004-YE
July,
2007 |
|
Top
Ten AGOA Apparel
Exports |
|
|
Bangladesh |
AGOA |
African
LDCs |
|
Price |
Bangladesh
Cheaper in 9 out of
10 |
AGOA
cheaper in 1 out of
10 |
|
|
Change
since 2004 |
$1.4
billion |
-$354
million |
-$126
million |
|
Source: USITC,
Top Export Apparel Items by Six Digit HTS
code. |
The
legislation proposes to give
Bangladesh
and The
legislation proposes to give
Bangladesh
and Cambodia
duty free access to the
U.S.
market for the first time. This duty
benefit will confer an average 17.2 percent price
advantage for those countries, giving them a
further competitive advantage over producers in
Africa
and the Western
Hemisphere
and textile and apparel workers in the
United
States. Textile
and apparel job losses have soared since quotas
were removed in 2005, with 163,000
U.S.
jobs lost, a decline of 23
percent.
Importers
and retailers also stand to gain the most. Passage
of the bill would allow Wal Mart and other big box
importers to realize duty savings totaling one
billion dollars a year.
|
Top
Ten Western
Hemisphere
Apparel
Exports |
|
|
Bangladesh |
Western
Hemisphere |
|
Price |
Bangladesh
cheaper in 8 out of
10 |
West.
Hemisphere cheaper in 2 out of
10 |
|
Change
since 2004 |
$1.1
billion |
-$1.2
billion |
|
Source:
USITC. Top
Apparel Exports by Six Digit HTS
Code. |
Bangladesh
and Cambodia
have achieved their gains by taking sales and
market share away from least developed countries
in Africa
as well as other African, Central
America,
Mexican and other developing countries. Since
2004,
Bangladesh
and Cambodia’s
exports of apparel have increased by $2 billion
while exports from AGOA have dropped by $437
million, from least developed countries in
Africa
down by $122 million and exports from
Western
Hemisphere
have dropped by $3 billion.
With
the exception of
Bangladesh
and Cambodia,
almost all least developed countries now get
duty-free access for their exports of
apparel.
This access has been granted in order to
spur development in these critically poor
countries.
Bangladesh
and Cambodia
have been excluded from duty-free status because
their apparel sectors are already extremely export
competitive and among the fastest growing in the
world.
In
fact, apparel exports from
Bangladesh
and Cambodia
to the U.S.
have grown by 58% since quotas were eliminated on
January
1, 2005. The vast
majority of their growth has come at the expense
of textile and apparel producers in Sub-Saharan
Africa and the Western
Hemisphere<
