The National Council of Textile Organization’s (NCTO) praised the Trump administration’s announcement imposing Section 301 tariffs on China in response to China’s unfair trade practices related to the forced transfer of American technology and intellectual property. NCTO also called on the Trump administration to include finished textile and apparel products on any future lists of imports from China to be made subject to Section 301 tariffs.

“The Trump administration is to be commended for taking decisive action against China’s unfair trade practices.  Section 301 tariffs deter trade cheats,” said NCTO President & CEO Auggie Tantillo. “As per our recommendation, NCTO is pleased that almost all textile machinery products were removed from the final list of tariff lines subject to immediate 301 duties because tariffs on textile machinery hinder the competitiveness of U.S. textile manufacturers.”

“While appreciative of today’s actions, NCTO is convinced that the Trump administration’s efforts to deter China’s unfair trade practices would be even more effective if textile and apparel end products from China were made subject to Section 301 tariffs,” Tantillo said as he referred to NCTO’s China 301 public comments filed on 11 May.

Noting that the Trump administration proposed an additional list of Chinese products for Section 301 tariffs as part of today’s announcement, Tantillo concluded: “NCTO is pleased that some textile products are on the second list.  It would have a greater deterring effect, however, if more textile and apparel end products were included.  As such, NCTO looks forward to working closely with the Trump administration to refine it.”

NCTO is a Washington, DC-based non-for-profit trade association established to represent the full spectrum of the US textiles sector, from fibres to yarns to fabrics to finished products, as well as suppliers of numerous support services such as trucking, banking, chemicals, and other such sectors that have a stake in the prosperity and survival of the US textiles industry.

US textiles and apparel manufacturers produced US$ 77.9 billion in output in 2017, and the sector’s supply chain employs 550,000 workers from fibre to finished sewn products.

www.ncto.org

Further information

NCTO calls for China tariffs on textiles and apparel