Congress Proposes Monitoring of Apparel Made in China and Vietnam
Apparel importers are opposing a proposal by Congress to monitor clothing made in China and Vietnam to make sure it’s not dumped into the United States at below-market prices.
A call for a China- and Vietnam-monitoring program has been outlined in the House Appropriations Committee report accompanying the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Bill to be voted on soon.
Laura Jones, executive director of the U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel, or USA-ITA, called the bill “useless protectionism that won’t bring a single job back to the United States.”
The Bush administration monitored Vietnamese-made apparel for two years, looking for dumping action. It found that clothing prices were consistent with apparel prices from other countries. The Vietnam-monitoring program ended when former President Bush left office in January.
For many years, Chinese apparel was under a quota system that expired at the end of 2008. All Chinese-made apparel can now be brought into the United States quota free, although it is subject to tariffs.
However, many U.S. domestic producers complain that China subsidizes many of its apparel factories that export, which gives them an unfair advantage.
“For the importers and retailers, if they are not buying goods that are being dumped or subsidized, then they have nothing to worry about,” said Lloyd Wood, a spokesperson for the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition. “If they are, they should source someplace else.” —Deborah Belgum
