Local Manufacturers to Urge Extension of TPL
A group of U.S. manufacturers are planning to meet on Sept. 29 in Mexico City in an attempt to reinstate a tariff preference program under the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The meeting is being organized by Max D. Curry, president of Los Angeles–based Byer California. About 15 to 20 domestic manufacturers are expected to attend, including several from California. Among them are Wrapper, Fortune Casual, California Concepts, Self Esteem, All Access Apparel, Candy Kiss, Warnaco Group and Wal-Mart, according to Curry.
NAFTA’s Tariff Protection Level 3 was created to cover apparel manufactured under the 807 program, or apparel manufactured from imported fabric cut in the United States, assembled in Mexico and brought back into the United States duty free. TPL3 has a cap of 25 million square meter equivalents per year and the TPL3 for 2004 is already full. In addition, when NAFTA was drafted, the TPL program was slated to end when quotas are eliminated for World Trade Organization members in January 2005. Industry trade organizations the American Apparel and Footwear Association, National Retail Federation, Retail Industry Leaders Association and United States Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel have been lobbying U.S. lawmakers to extend the TPL program.
Curry and the other executives attending the meeting are hoping to urge the Mexican government to participate in the effort to extend the program.
“I want to create some public noise [about the issue],” said Curry, who said TPL3 is just one portion of his production strategy, which also includes producing Byer apparel locally, in Asia and in Guatemala. If the TPL3 program is not extended, Curry said his company would likely shift production elsewhere to avoid paying a tariff on the finished garments returning to the United States.
—Alison A. Nieder
