US Textile Group Opposes Vietnam Joining TPP

Although it involves nine countries

In March 2010, when the TPP initiative was launched, the US textile industry opposes the inclusion of Vietnam, and the seventh round will be held in Vietnam on the 20 th of this month.

It's sensitive in the United States.

52 US Congressmen associated with the textile industry wrote a letter to the United States earlier this month.

It is pointed out in the joint letter that if the agreement is mismanaged, it will shift the global trade pattern, lose important employment opportunities in the textile and garment industry, and threaten the important Western Hemisphere trade relations supporting nearly 2 million jobs.

The nine Pacific Rim countries that have formally participated in the TPP multilateral agreement include: the United States, Vietnam, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru and Singapore; in addition to these nine countries, there are plans to expand other countries' entry into TPP.

TPP is not the first regional trade agreement involving the United States in Asia, but once TPP comes into effect, it will create the world's most important trading bloc.

The United States textile industry believes that putting Vietnam in the TPP will be a challenge because Vietnam is the second largest supplier of textile and apparel products to the United States after China's mainland. Its annual export value is US $6 billion 300 million. Vietnam has also expanded to industrial textiles and other high-end textiles in recent years.

The members said that, like its neighboring mainland China, Vietnam has large state-owned and subsidized textile industries, undervalued currencies, weak environmental protection measures, and loose enforcement of intellectual property rights.

Vietnam also relies heavily on imports of most of its yarn and cloth from mainland China. In 2009, it imported US $2 billion 200 million from the mainland of China, which raised concerns about the limited export opportunities for yarn and fabric manufacturers in the United States.

The textile industry in the United States is operating from the parameters right, which begins to negotiate TPP content, especially in the rules of origin.

Smyth McKissick, executive director of the US Alice manufacturing company, is also the co chair of the US Manufacturing Trade Action Alliance (AMTAC). It is necessary to make sure that there is no loophole rule for fiber, yarn, cloth, dyeing and finishing, sewing thread, pocket cloth and sewing process, so as to ensure that any agreement that may be reached is advantageous.

So far, the textile and garment industry has been regarded as an independent chapter for negotiation under the free trade agreement of the United States, and the US Trade Representative (USTR) has made various indications on this point.

It pointed out that the textile and garment industry accounts for more than 1/3 of bilateral trade between the United States and Vietnam, and is more sensitive than all other industries, making it complicated in the US trade policy.

As a result, textile and garment products are not suitable for the rules of integration with other manufacturing products.

The recommendations of the joint letter include the complete elimination of specific tax items, negotiation of tariff reductions and phased downgrades, and extension of tariff reduction / phasing.

Rule of source area

The group also requested that the TPP protocol without defects be followed by the precedent adopted in the recent negotiations on the US trade agreement, with the basic "yarn recognition" (yarn-forward) Plateau as the plateau production rule for textile and clothing products. Under this rule, the garment products for tax reduction or duty exemption should be used in the yarn or fabric of the TPP contracting state or the United States, and the cutting, knitting and sewing process should be completed in the area.

Textile organizations hope that all garment components, including inner, elastic, sewing thread and pocket cloth, can be applied to the "yarn recognition" plateau.

In the joint letter to the Kirk trade ambassador, it was also suggested that the enforcement power of customs should be strengthened more than the previous agreements, including effective investigation of the origin of yarns and fabrics.

It is revealed in the letter that TPP countries, especially Vietnam, have the ability to produce finished goods and clothing exports, which limits the chances that the finished cloth manufactured by the United States will enter the Vietnamese market.

The letter states that weak textile terms will increase the US trade deficit and lead to the loss of important textile and clothing opportunities in the United States.

Mike Michaud, chairman of the house trade working group, added that these trade negotiations gave the United States the opportunity to correct past mistakes and expand employment opportunities and business opportunities for us workers.

The United States textile industry has been in conflict with demand from US retailers and garment importers. The latter requires more relaxed rules of origin, and the cumulation rule for the exporters of the TPP area can use any other tariff preferential tariff.

The seventh round of TPP consultation will be held in Vietnam on 20-24 June. It is expected that the United States will propose a new proposal for the rules of origin of textiles and garments.