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USA:AMTAC reacts to Sec. Gutierrez comments on textile safeguards on China |
2005-3-31
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U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez was quoted in a Reuters story today on textile safeguards - his comment to the article are below.
"The process will be driven by facts. At this point, we''ve only just put in place the monitoring system and we''ll see what the facts tell us," Gutierrez told reporters after giving a speech on U.S. trade policy priorities.
American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition (AMTAC) reaction statement by Executive Director Auggie Tantillo:
"While we are glad the safeguard process will be driven by facts, we believe the facts clearly are self-evident at this point.
373,800 textile and apparel manufacturing jobs have been lost since January 2001. That''s 35.7 percent of the entire U.S. textile and apparel manufacturing sector. 11,400 jobs were lost in first two months of this year alone.
China''s share of the U.S. import market in the apparel categories released from quota on January 1, 2002 jumped from less than 10 percent to more than 70 percent in less than three years.
Chinese textile and apparel exports to the United States in several sensitive categories are up in excess of 100, 500 and even 1,000 percent since the expiration of all quotas on January 1, 2005. What is needed now is action. More and more jobs are being lost on a daily basis due to the U.S. government''s failure to immediately self-initiate safeguards." |
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American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition |
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