| Who Supports the Trade Promotion Agreement
with Colombia?
The U.S. Textile and Apparel Industries!
The U.S. textile and apparel industries support trade with Colombia!
- The entire U.S. textile and apparel supply chain - from cotton growers and fiber and yarn producers to importers and retailers - sent a letter to Congress on December 4, 2007, strongly supporting the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement.
- U.S. cotton, yarn, and fabric exports to Colombia currently face duties of 10-15%. These duties would be immediately eliminated under the agreement.
Colombians love U.S. cotton, yarn, and fabric!
- Colombians are now the 15th largest buyers of U.S. yarn and fabric and the 16th largest buyers of U.S. cotton in the entire world.
- In 2006, U.S. yarn and fabric exports to Colombia totaled $135 million and U.S. cotton exports totaled $67 million.
Without the trade agreement, jobs will move elsewhere, not to the U.S.!
- While the Andean region remains an important and growing market for U.S. textile exports, the Western Hemisphere textile and apparel industries face stiff competition from Asia.
- Uncertainty arising from the temporary nature of the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA) has motivated U.S. investors to take their business elsewhere. In the first 11 months of 2007, U.S. apparel imports from Colombia dropped 28%, while apparel imports from outside Latin America are rising.
- This dynamic is bad news for U.S. cotton growers and manufacturers of yarn, fiber, and fabric. Unlike Colombia, apparel manufacturers outside the Western Hemisphere use little U.S. cotton, yarn, and fabric.
The Western Hemisphere's integrated textile and apparel manufacturing industries use U.S. inputs on a significant scale - and that's good for tens of thousands of workers in the United States and Colombia!
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|  | |  | | Did you know?
| | | The U.S. textile and apparel industries employ more than 500,000 U.S. workers - more jobs than just about any other manufacturing sector. An estimated 500,000 Colombian workers also rely on these industries for jobs.
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| | | | Overheard
| | | ''Time is of the essence if we hope to retain a strong and economically vibrant textile and apparel industry in this country by ensuring a strong trade relationship with our partners in Colombia.''
- From a letter sent to Congress on the behalf of textile and apparel associations.
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