Posted May 25, 2017

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer formally notified Congress today that President Trump intends to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a trilateral free trade agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

 

“The U.S. textile industry welcomes President Trump’s decision to renegotiate NAFTA,” said National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) President and CEO Auggie Tantillo. “It is in America’s national interest to modernize the agreement.”

 

“Let me be clear: NAFTA is vital to the prosperity of the U.S. textile industry, and NCTO steadfastly supports continuing the agreement,” he added. “With that said, NAFTA can be improved to incentivize more textile and apparel jobs and production in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.”

 

“Eliminating loopholes that shift production to third-party countries like China and devoting more customs enforcement resources to stop illegal third-country transshipments are two changes that would make the agreement better,” Tantillo continued. “We look forward to working with our industry partners throughout the NAFTA region to improve this agreement for all.”

 

NCTO is a Washington, DC-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers. 

 

• U.S. employment in the textile supply chain was 565,000 in 2016.

• The value of shipments for U.S. textiles and apparel was $74.4 billion last year, a nearly 11% increase since 2009. 

• U.S. exports of fiber, textiles and apparel were $26.3 billion in 2016. 

• Capital expenditures for textile and apparel production totaled $2 billion in 2015, the last year for which data is available.

 

Source: NCTO