Importers, U.S. producers square off over Doha sectioning for textiles

Importers, U.S. producers square off over Doha sectioning for textiles    The possibility that textile negotiations might occur separately from those involving other products as part of the World Trade Organization's Doha Development Agenda round of multinational trade talks has pitted importers of textiles and apparel against U.S. manufacturers.
   The leaders of six trade associations representing importers wrote a letter to World Trade Organization (WTO) ambassadors expressing 'our great concern regarding reports that your governments may be considering support for a restrictive textile and apparel sectoral initiative.'
   Taking textile and apparel goods out of 'the negotiations on non-agricultural market access (NAMA) is contrary to the interests of producers in your countries, because it will undermine their potential for growth and threatens to resurrect the special protection for this sector that was only eliminated a year ago,' the association leaders said.
   Sectoral initiatives should not be for the purpose of limited market access, their letter said. 'We would support a textile and apparel sectoral that seeks deeper liberalization than what could be achieved through the general NAMA formula, but not one designed to avoid liberalization altogether,' the leaders noted.
   'We urge you to recall the reasons why the elimination of the textile quota system and the full integration of the textile and apparel sector into the multilateral trading regime was such an important element of the Uruguay Round agreements,' the association leaders said.
   'Your memory of history or your vision of the future should not be clouded by scare tactics and gross exaggerations by the very interests that insisted upon the imposition of restrictions on your trade in textile and apparel products,' their letter concluded. Textiles and apparel should be 'part of the world trading system, rather than the exception that operates outside of the system.'
   Signing the letter were Kevin M. Burke, president and chief executive officer of the American Apparel & Footwear Association, Tracy Mullin, president and CEO of the National Retail Federation, Sandra L. Kennedy, president of the Retail Industry Leaders Association, Laura E. Jones, executive director of the United States Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel, Michele Marini Pittenger, president of the Travel Goods Association, and Xavier Durieu, secretary-general of EuroCommerce.
   On the opposing side, two U.S. associations representing the interests of American textile and apparel manufacturers and a Turkish domestic textile trade organization urged WTO ambassadors to adopt a proposal made Thursday at a WTO NAMA meeting in Geneva to create a separate sectoral negotiation for textile and clothing products.
   Such a sectoral 'would allow WTO members to negotiate different treatment for textiles and clothing as compared to other products that would be covered by a general formula of tariff reductions,' the domestic associations said.
   The U.S. government has called the sectoral proposal 'an excellent starting point and an agreeable format' for future discussions, the associations noted.
   Creating a separate textile venue makes 'common sense' for 'the only manufacturing sector that is nearly universal,' said Ziya Sukun, executive director of ITKIB Association USA, a coalition of Turkish textile and clothing trade associations.
   'The Doha Development Round was never meant to be 'the benefits for China only round,' but that is exactly what will happen unless a serious discussion regarding textiles is allowed,' said Cass Johnson, president of the National Council of Textile Organizations.
   'A sectoral is the only way the WTO can stop the severe disruption afflicting global trade in textiles,' said Auggie Tantillo, executive director of the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition.