The loud protest by the US textile industry has been growing stronger bythe day, as the industry feels threatened because of a number of factors likepouring out subsidies by the Chinese Government on their textile and garmentexporters. The US textile manufacturing industry, led by the NationalCouncil of Textile Organizations (NCTO) is continuing to wage a determinedlobbying campaign with the US Government in an effort to persuadeCongress and the Obama administration to establish restrictions on imports ofsensitive textile and apparel products from mainland China.

NCTO's current position on China is perfectly showcased incomments submitted to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on 22September regarding China's compliance with its WTO commitments. NCTO'scomments identify a range of protectionist and mercantilist policies allegedlybeing pursued by the Chinese Government and seek to make a case for a morerobust U.S. trade enforcement policy against imports from the mainland.


NCTO is firmly of the view that China has adopted "aslew of mercantilist actions designed to increase its market share and exportsto the US textile sector" despite a pledge it made at the April G-20summit in London not to take any protectionist actions through the end of 2010.For example, the Chinese Government has allegedly provided some US$10 billionin export subsidies to its textile sector by increasing value-added tax rebaterates provided to textile and apparel exports from 11 percent to 16 percent.NCTO claims that China continues to provide massive subsidies to domestictextile and apparel manufacturers in the form of research and technologygrants, bank lending programmes, tax exemptions and preferential taxprogrammes, in addition to the already mentioned VAT rebates for exports.China's subsidy structure also remains opaque and is plagued by a lack oftransparency, which makes it difficult to determine the subsidies that areactually being provided to domestic producers.


NCTO has pointed out that China's adoption of a new textilerevitalisation plan in April 2009 which, among other things, increased varioussubsidies, reduced labour costs through forgiveness of payments to socialinsurance programmes, extended new loans and credit guarantees to textile companies,and provided increased Government aid for research and upgrading equipment.NCTO has also objected that the Chinese Yuan has remained steady versus theU.S. dollar over the past 14 months. The US textile sector believes that theYuan is undervalued by as much as 40 percent, providing "enormousfinancial support" to Chinese exporters. Textile interests also allegethat the lack of enforcement of U.S. trade agreements, including allowing Chinato maintain a broad range of subsidies and to keep its currency undervalued,has resulted in an erosion of popular support for trade liberalisation thatwill not recover "until meaningful action is taken to reverse the currentimbalances."


In fact, NCTO has appealed to the Obama Administration totake steps like moving quickly on a commitment made by President Obama duringhis presidential campaign to monitor textile and apparel imports from China;Condemning recent Chinese actions on textiles and other industrial productsthat are mercantilist in nature; and acknowledging that China is manipulatingits currency in order to gain an unfair export advantage and supportlegislation and other actions that will either compel China to beginappreciating its currency or allow US manufacturers to defend themselves and theirworkers from this predatory practice.


NCTO hasviewed the present situation so serious as to explore the possibility of filingone or more trade remedy petitions against selected textile and/or apparelproducts from China. While textile manufacturers would appear to lack standingto file virtually any trade remedy petition against apparel, a potentialSection 421 case could conceivably be filed by a union (or group of workers)that is representative of the U.S. apparel industry. Even if a safeguard petitionwere filed on selected textile and/or apparel imports from China, however,there are no guarantees that President Obama would again agree to grant reliefin the form of safeguard duties or quotas. The Obama Administration has vowedto pursue a more robust trade enforcement agenda but is not interested instarting a trade war with China or placing additional burdens on businesses orconsumers as the US economy continues to gain forward momentum. Textilemanufacturers have successfully filed a handful of anti-dumping and/orcountervailing duty petitions against mainland Chinese textile products,including the on-going proceedings on woven electric blankets and narrow wovenribbons with woven selvedge and past proceedings on laminated woven sacks,polyester staple fibre and greige polyester/cotton print cloth. Nonetheless,textile manufacturers are especially interested in restraining mainland Chineseapparel in order to preserve their export markets in Latin America. Indeed, anyeventual AD/CV actions on mainland Chinese apparel would not be able to protectUS apparel manufacturers, who generally oppose restrictions on China, butrather to preserve and strengthen US commercial ties with the apparelmanufacturing sectors in Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean Basin and the Andeanregion. These regional partners are critical for the U.S. textile industry asthey accounted for a combined 85 percent of total U.S. yarn exports and 69percent of total U.S. fabric exports during January-July 2009. The keychallenge for U.S. textile manufacturers will be to find a way to overcometheir apparent lack of standing to file AD/CV petitions against apparelimports, a hurdle that may ultimately prove insurmountable.

But will it lead to trade war between the US and China, as is being feared in some quarters. However, a sober assessment is, NO. As of now, China's industrial output grew at a faster pace of 12.3% in August, after registering a growth of 10.8% in July, indicating that the Chinese economy is gearing up and is likely to meet the Government's target of 8% during 2009. However, Chinese exports have plummeted by 23.4% I August, following a contraction of 22.8% in the previous month. However, it is the domestic market that has been sustaining the industrial growth, despite recession elsewhere in the world pulling it down. Although China is in news trade dispute with the US over the latter's imposition of an emergency duty on Chinese tyres in early September, a full-blown trade war is highly unlikely as this would come into conflict with the interest of both the countries. It needs to be borne in mind that China continues to be the biggest creditor of the US, while the US is China's second largest export market after the European Union. A trade war between the world's two biggest economies could be damaging to both the economies and would, therefore,' be avoided, notwithstanding the fierce lobbying that the US textile industry may undertake.



Originally published in The Stitch Times: November 2009