WASHINGTON — January 21, 2025 — The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO), representing the full spectrum of U.S. textiles from fiber to finished sewn products, issued the following statement today from President and CEO Kim Glas regarding President Donald Trump’s executive order, the “America First Trade Policy.”
Statement by NCTO President and CEO Kim Glas:
“We welcome President Trump’s executive order directing federal agencies to conduct a comprehensive review of the devastating impact of unfair trade practices by China and other countries that have undermined U.S. textile manufacturers, the broader manufacturing base, and the economy.
“President Trump’s order directs agencies to examine not only the effects of these practices and their contribution to the U.S. trade deficit but also to propose solutions such as penalty tariffs and de minimis reform to mitigate the harm to critical domestic industries.
“This action comes at a pivotal moment for the U.S. textile industry, a vital supplier of goods to the U.S. military and an employer of over 500,000 American workers. For too long, import fraud, trade crimes, and the evasion of U.S. bans on forced labor goods and duties through the de minimis loophole in trade law have severely damaged strategic domestic manufacturing industries.
“In the past several months alone, the U.S. textile industry has seen 26 plant closures and thousands of layoffs.
“Notably, the executive order includes a directive addressing the de minimis provision, instructing relevant agencies to ‘recommend modifications as warranted to protect both the revenue of the United States and the public health by preventing unlawful importations.’
“This directive marks an important and long overdue step toward commonsense reform of an outdated trade provision that has caused significant damage to the U.S. textile industry. The de minimis loophole facilitates the entry of approximately 4 million low-value shipments daily, often bypassing inspection and duties. This loophole benefits Chinese e-commerce platforms, importers, and tariff evaders, while harming U.S. manufacturers.
“Given the overwhelming scale of the problem and the challenges faced by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in enforcing trade laws amid this flood of de minimis packages, we urge President Trump to prioritize this particular issue and take decisive action as soon as feasible to eliminate the de minimis loophole through executive order.
“We also commend the President’s directive to review the establishment of an External Review Service to collect tariffs and other taxes on foreign entities. Such measures would serve as a deterrent to tariff evasion and provide funding for trade enforcement priorities in the new administration. NCTO has long called for expansive stepped-up customs enforcement as tariff evasion has hurt our industry, especially facing the flood of dumped products and goods falsely claiming duty-free benefits through our network of free trade agreements.
While not part of the executive order announced Monday, President Trump separately threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada on February 1. Imposing tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imported goods that qualify for duty-free treatment under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) would undermine a vibrant coproduction chain, which is vital to the U.S. textile industry and supports thousands of jobs here and in Mexico and Canada.
“Finally, we look forward to working closely with the President and his administration to implement much needed reforms to U.S. trade policy. Policies such as penalty tariffs on China and comprehensive de minimis reform are essential to addressing the actions of predatory exporters and bad actors that threaten our strategic industry, displace our workers, damage our economy and harm U.S. consumers.”
Posted: January 21, 2025
Source: The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO)
