The office of the US Trade Representative is calling for legislation modifying some of the textile rule of origin provisions under the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA).
In particular, it wants to see technical changes that provide certainty of duty-free treatment for women’s and girls’ woven pyjama bottoms – and clarity as to how certain items will be treated on the textiles “short supply” list of the FTA, which will promote use of the free trade agreement.
The USTR says the changes “have the strong support of the domestic textile industry as well as US importers and retailers who source from the region.”
US exports of textiles and apparel to the CAFTA-DR region were $3.8bn in the 12-months ending February 2012, and increased 15% over the same period the year before.
US imports of textiles and apparel from the CAFTA-DR region were $8.0bn from March 2011 through February 2012, a rise of 10% year-on-year. Around 73% of those imports were made from either US or regional yarns and fabrics.