Posted October 6, 2015

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Responding to the announcement that the Obama Administration has successfully concluded the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) expressed gratitude to U.S. negotiators for their close cooperation on key issues in the textile chapter.

 

The 12 nations that finalized the agreement include the United States, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. These countries represent nearly 40 percent of global gross domestic product.

 

Like all private sector stakeholders, NCTO is anxious to learn the exact details of the final TPP agreement. Once it is released to the public, NCTO will undertake a thorough analysis of the text to assess the impact of the agreement on domestic textile manufacturers. 

 

“We would like to thank Ambassador Michael Froman and the U.S. government for working closely with NCTO throughout the entire TPP process,” said NCTO President Augustine Tantillo, who was in Atlanta for the talks. “Though we are waiting to examine the final details, our briefings at the Atlanta TPP round lead us to believe that U.S. negotiators were able to achieve a well-balanced and reasonable outcome for U.S. textile manufacturers and our partners within the Western Hemisphere.”

 

In 2014, textile and apparel exports from the current TPP countries to the U.S. totaled $19 billion.

 

“Due to the sheer volume of trade covered by this agreement, it was critical that the final terms strongly reflect our input,” Tantillo said. “This included the need for TPP to establish a yarn-forward system as the basis for rule of origin determinations and the setting of multi-year tariff phase-outs on sensitive textile and apparel products. Based on our debrief with the U.S. government in Atlanta we believe that, in great part, these key objectives were met.”

 

The U.S. textile and apparel industry is a significant contributor to the overall U.S. economy, producing over $70 billion in annual output and employing nearly 500,000 workers nationwide. In addition, the U.S. textile and apparel sector exported nearly $24 billion in goods in 2014.

 

Source: NCTO