Biden Urged to Aid Apparel Industry

Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) are urging President Biden to address troubling trade and economic trends with devastating implications for US textile and apparel manufacturing.

In the letter, the senators asked the President to immediately convene an interagency meeting with key leadership from the US Trade Representative, Commerce Department, Department of Homeland Security, Treasury Department and the National Security Council to identify the root problems, develop robust and urgent solutions and engage directly with US industry and our regional allies.

“The US textile industry is a vital domestic industrial base for key US national security, health care, and economic priorities, and has been designated a Priority Trade Issue by Congress,” the senators wrote. US textile production is the foundation of our Western Hemisphere textile and apparel co-production chain, responsible for over 500,000 US jobs with $39 billion in annual shipments.”

“Domestic producers are a critical part of the military’s warm industrial base, supplying over 8,000 items of mission critical gear and clothing annually to our war fighters, and are an essential component of US health care security as our only domestic supply chain for critical personal protective equipment and other health supplies,” the senators continued. “Without a domestic textile industry, a vulnerable U.S. would be reliant on third parties to supply all of these essential products.”

“Unfortunately, after decades of victimization by Chinese economic and trade predation, today our domestic textile manufacturers and workers find themselves attempting to recover from the pandemic while facing unprecedented demand destruction. This is largely a result of China’s aggressive and illegal practices of transshipment, undervaluation of cheap products, forced labor, skirting tariffs and penalties, and countless other tactics that are undermining US supply chains. Without urgent action, we will be unable to head off a coming disaster that will substantially undermine textile and apparel production and employment in the US and throughout the Western Hemisphere,” the senators continued.