The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) , the National Chamber of the Textile Industry (Canaintex) and the Canadian Textile Industry Association (CTIA) issued a joint statement urging US President Donald Trump to reach an agreement with Mexico and Canada to avoid imposing 25% tariffs on imports from these countries and close the de minimis loophole.
The textile associations emphasized that “our three countries are partners in a vital textile and apparel co-production chain that generates $20 billion in two-way trade and helps support more than 1.6 million jobs under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a trade deal that was negotiated during President Trump’s first term.”
In a statement, the associations explained that the U.S. textile industry sends $12.3 billion , or 53% of its total global textile exports, to Mexico and Canada, inputs that return as finished products to the United States under the USMCA.
Mexico exports nine billion dollars in textiles and clothing to the United States, the fourth largest exporter of textiles and the sixth largest exporter of clothing to that country.
Canada exports approximately $1.8 billion worth of textiles and apparel to the United States and Mexico, with the United States accounting for 64% of its total global textile exports, including high-quality fire-resistant materials and medical equipment.
“While we fully support President Trump’s efforts to curb illegal migration as quickly as possible, we urge the administration to refrain from imposing punitive tariffs on imports from USMCA partners. We are focused on ensuring a normalized trade relationship between our countries,” said Kim Glas , President and CEO of NCTO.
He also stressed that imposing tariffs on imports from critical USMCA partners will only benefit China and other Asian countries that do not comply with the rules and will harm the US textile industry.
On the other hand, Glas pointed out that the industry is also asking Trump to end the de minimis tariff exemption for imports from all countries.
“This loophole in U.S. trade law, which allows imports valued at $800 or less to enter the United States duty-free, hurts our textile and apparel industries, benefits countries like China, and helps facilitate the flow of illegal goods ,” he said.
For his part, Rafael Zaga Saba, president of Canaintex, said that despite the measures adopted by countries to avoid the importation of undervalued goods, manufactured with forced labor or transshipped , they have seen firsthand how the Asian market has obtained an unfair advantage through predatory trade practices, displacing companies and workers.
“Canada seeks to preserve our strong co-production chain with Mexico and the United States, which stimulates investment, trade and employment in all three of our countries,” said Jeff Ayoub, chairman of the CTIA board of directors.
The associations jointly added that they look forward to working closely with the Trump administration and continuing to educate officials on the adverse impact of penalty tariffs on imports from Western Hemisphere countries and de minimis tariffs on these industries and workers, while highlighting the critical nature of the strong co-production chain, which contributes to overall investment, job growth and economic stability.
Since Trump unveiled plans to slap tariffs on all three countries in late January, the Mexican and Canadian governments have been working to defuse tensions and persuade Trump that they have been working to police their borders.
It is worth remembering that the US government is expected to make a decision on March 4 regarding the 25% tariffs on its USMCA trading partners.
In response, textile associations said that additional tariffs on the country’s three most important trading partners would only increase the economic tension that has begun to emerge from Trump’s wave of actions.
Companies that import auto parts, medical devices, produce and clothing to the United States are once again grappling with how to absorb the added costs.
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