Michael Froman.
YARN FORWARD
U.S. Senate Approves Michael Froman as New U.S. Trade Representative
The naming of Michael Froman as the new U.S. trade representative is good news for the U.S. textile industry.
The National Council of Textile Organizations said it fully supports Froman because he is a strong supporter of the “yarn-forward” rule of origin being debated at negotiations to establish a new free-trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
The “yarn-forward” rule means that any duty-free clothing traded between the 12 countries that currently make up the TPP pact would have to be made of regional yarns and not yarns imported from outside the region. The “yarn-forward” rule is popular among U.S. yarn providers, which are primarily in North Carolina and South Carolina.
“It is NCTO’s continued hope that as our nation’s next United States trade representative, Mr. Froman will remain strongly committed to creating jobs, strengthening our nation’s domestic textile manufacturing sector and promoting fair trade between TPP-member nations and America’s trading partners around the world,” the Washington, D.C.–based organization said in a statement.
Froman, who was overwhelmingly approved by the U.S. Senate on a 93–4 vote June 19, comes from inside the Obama administration, where he has worked as the president’s deputy assistant and deputy national security advisor for international economic affairs.
He replaces Ron Kirk, the Obama administration’s first U.S. trade representative. Kirk, a former Dallas mayor, resigned in March and is now working for the law firm Gibson Dunn, which has offices in Washington, D.C., and Dallas.
