U.S., Philippines enter agreement to stop illegal textile trade

U.S., Philippines enter agreement to stop illegal textile trade    The United States and Philippines have entered an agreement to cooperate on stopping illegal transshipments of textiles and apparel through the Philippines to the United States.
   The agreement provides for customs cooperation, identification of the actual textiles and apparel manufacturers and joint verification visits to provide both governments with the information needed to stop textiles and apparel transshipments.
   “This MOU (memorandum of understanding) will help safeguard and promote legitimate textile trade between our two countries, while stopping illegal textile transshipments,” said U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab in a statement.
   The Philippines exports 80 percent of its textiles to the United States. In 2005, U.S. textile and apparel imports comprised $2 billion of the $9.2 billion in merchandise imports from the Philippines.
   The United States has entered similar agreements to crack down on textile and apparel transshipments from Hong Kong and Macau, and is negotiating MOUs with Indonesia and Taiwan. Negotiations with South Korea and Malaysia on these issues are part of the ongoing negotiations for comprehensive bilateral free trade agreements with these two countries.