Specialty fabrics group fights U.S.-Korea FTA

Specialty fabrics group fights U.S.-Korea FTA    A group of U.S. specialty fabric makers launched a campaign on Capitol Hill this week to warn lawmakers about the potential losses to the industry if the South Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) is allowed to go forward.
   The U.S. Industrial Fabrics Institute (USIFI), a division of the Industrial Fabrics Association International, represents about 2,000 companies. Specialty fabrics represent a world market estimated at $123 billion in 2010, of which $29 billion is manufactured in the United States.
   'Specialty fabrics are a segment of the domestic textile manufacturing base that has not only survived decades of bad trade policies and relentless import pressures but which now thrives,' USIFI said in a statement on Wednesday.
   Specialty fabrics are used in a variety of industrial and technical applications, including fire resistant protection suits, car air bags, and bulletproof vests. They also provide containment of toxic wastes, prevent shoreline erosion, and are used in new pavement technology.
   A group of 24 USIFI members met with more than 45 lawmakers during the past several days to highlight the effects of U.S. trade policies on specialty fabrics and American manufacturing overall.
   “Working with USIFI to meet with the elected officials has helped our company convey the importance of defeating the free trade agreement,' said Rich Lippert, a member of the group from Glen Raven Technical Fabrics. 'Ultimately KORUS is not ‘free’ and if passed as written, will mean the loss of jobs, not the creation of jobs.”
   The USIFI group’s other message to congressional leaders concerns the erosion of parts of the Berry Amendment. Work is being done to ensure that language will be inserted into the law that defines components of military tents. This effort is similar to the 2006 Berry Amendment change in which the military uniform industry succeeded in spelling out non-textile uniform components, requiring that these components, too, be domestically sourced.
   USIFI member companies also joined representatives from the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition (AMTAC) this week for a meeting to discuss the pending legislation important to the textile and manufacturing industries, including both groups’ opposition of the KORUS; as well as their support of the Berry Amendment Extension Act (H.R. 679). The bill would permanently require the Department of Homeland Security and all of its agencies to purchase and procure textiles made entirely in America.
   Graniteville Specialty Fabrics President James Egan said the industry has been a victim of Washington’s trade negotiations because of a lack of awareness and understanding of what the U.S. industrial fabrics and technical textiles companies manufacture.
   “The specialty textile industry can compete with anyone provided we have a level playing field. It is our responsibility as leaders of the industry to educate, communicate, and fight.” Egan said.
   'With luck Congress and the White House will get the message and read the fine print before signing off on the KORUS trade agreement, before more U.S. specialty fabrics industry jobs are bartered away in yet another zero sum game in the name of free trade,' USIFI said.