Congress Passes Trade Bills Before Changing of the Guard
Christmas came early for apparel manufacturers producing overseas.
Just before Congress adjourned for the year, it passed a trade measure that favors importing apparel and textiles from several countries in Africa and South America as well as Vietnam and Haiti.
On Dec. 8, the House of Representatives passed the legislation by a 212–184 vote, followed on Dec. 9 by a 79–9 vote in the Senate.
The bill gives a conditional one-year extension to an Andean trade preference pact with Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia that had been set to expire on Dec. 31. The agreement allows about 85 percent of the apparel exported from this region to skip paying an average 15 percent to 17 percent tariff on apparel and textiles. In addition, most apparel made of U.S.– or Andean-made fabric can be imported into the country free of quota under the extended Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act.
The congressional trade measure also gives Vietnam normal trade relations status, taking advantage of its imminent entry into the World Trade Organization on Jan 11.
The package also includes new trade preferences for apparel made in Haiti, an extension of the third-country fabric provisions under the African Growth and Opportunity Act until 2012, and an extension of the generalized system of preferences program.
Apparel trade groups praised Congress’ move just as control of the legislative body passes from the Republicans to the Democrats. “Passage of this important piece of legislation enables the stable and beneficial linkages between U.S. apparel, footwear and textile companies and their partners in countries throughout the Western Hemisphere, Africa and Asia to not only continue but to grow into the future,” said Kevin Burke, president and chief executive of the American Apparel & Footwear Association, a trade group based in Arlington, Va.
—Deborah Belgum
