Del.icio.us  Digg  facebook  MySpace  Twitter  Google  Bookmark Me  LinkedIn  StumbleUpon  Permalink

Cotton Requests Expansion of Textile Monitoring

Members of the textile industry have asked President Bush to extend and expand the Textile Monitoring Program to cover U.S. textile and apparel imports from China. The TMP currently monitors U.S. apparel imports from Vietnam for illegal dumping. The TMP expires Jan. 1, 2009. The request asks for the expansion to begin that same day.

Concerns about dumping are not unwarranted. The expiration of quotas in 2005 resulted in a 40% price drop and a nearly 600% volume increase of textile and apparel imports from China, severely disrupting the U.S. market.

National Cotton Council Chairman Larry McClendon, a Marianna, Arizona producer and ginner, says U.S. cotton is encouraged by this bipartisan congressional support for stronger trade enforcement. He says excessive textile and apparel imports disrupt the market and pose a threat to our industry.