WASHINGTON — May 18, 2017 — Today, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer formally notified Congress that President Trump intends to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a trilateral free trade agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
“The U.S. textile industry welcomes President Trump’s decision to renegotiate NAFTA,” said National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) President and CEO Auggie Tantillo.
“It is in America’s national interest to modernize the agreement,” Tantillo continued.
“Let me be clear: NAFTA is vital to the prosperity of the U.S. textile industry, and NCTO steadfastly supports continuing the agreement. With that said, NAFTA can be improved to incentivize more textile and apparel jobs and production in the United States, Canada, and Mexico,” Tantillo added.
“Eliminating loopholes that shift production to third-party countries like China and devoting more customs enforcement resources to stop illegal third-country transshipments are two changes that would make the agreement better,” Tantillo said.
“We look forward to working with our industry partners throughout the NAFTA region to improve this agreement for all,” Tantillo finished.
NCTO is a Washington, DC-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers.
- U.S. employment in the textile supply chain was 565,000 in 2016.
- The value of shipments for U.S. textiles and apparel was $74.4 billion last year, a nearly 11% increase since 2009.
- U.S. exports of fiber, textiles and apparel were $26.3 billion in 2016.
- Capital expenditures for textile and apparel production totaled $2 billion in 2015, the last year for which data is available.
NAFTA Textile and Apparel Trade Flows
| U.S. Textile and Apparel Exports – In Thousand Dollars | |||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | |
| To Mexico | $6,208,045 | $6,510,071 | $5,936,873 |
| To Canada | $5,595,784 | $5,246,776 | $5,160,422 |
| NAFTA Total | $11,803,828 | $11,756,847 | $11,097,296 |
U.S. Imports of Textiles and Apparel – In Thousand Dollars |
|||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | |
| From Mexico | $5,875,311 | $5,776,274 | $5,656,997 |
| From Canada | $2,103,254 | $2,041,965 | $1,991,173 |
| NAFTA Total | $7,978,565 | $7,818,239 | $7,648,170 |
| U.S. Textiles and Apparel Trade Balance – In Thousand Dollars | |||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | |
| With Mexico | $332,734 | $733,797 | $279,876 |
| With Canada | $3,492,530 | $3,204,811 | $3,169,249 |
| NAFTA Total | $3,825,263 | $3,938,608 | $3,449,126 |
Source for data in table: U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Textiles and Apparel
Posted May 18, 2017
Source: NCTO — National Council of Textile Organizations
