The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) has urged the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to strengthen support for the U.S. textile industry during a hearing on the proposed Section 301 Forced Labor Investigations.

Speaking before the hearing at the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, Kim Glas, President and CEO of NCTO, outlined the challenges facing the domestic textile sector and presented recommendations aimed at strengthening U.S. manufacturing while addressing forced labour concerns in global supply chains.

Concerns Over Forced Labour and Supply Chains

According to Glas, NCTO represents the full spectrum of the U.S. textile industry, which employs approximately 453,000 workers nationwide. She noted that nearly 70% of U.S. textile and apparel exports are destined for the Western Hemisphere, making the regional supply chain a critical component of the industry’s competitiveness against Asia.

Glas stated that forced labour, particularly involving Xinjiang cotton, has significantly affected the U.S. textile industry and its trading partners in the Western Hemisphere.

She said the USTR’s proposal to impose additional duties on apparel and finished textile imports from countries associated with forced labour practices is an important step towards addressing unfair trade practices.

Industry Challenges

NCTO highlighted that Asia’s share of the U.S. textile and apparel market has increased from 77% in 2019 to 79%, while the Western Hemisphere’s share has declined from 16% to 12% during the same period.

According to Glas, the U.S. textile industry has lost 41 manufacturing plants over the past two years, prompting the organisation to seek a textile mechanism under Section 301 that supports industry growth and stability.

Recommendations to USTR

While supporting stronger action against forced labour, NCTO expressed concerns over the proposed textile mechanism in its current form.

The association urged the USTR to:

• Exclude U.S. raw cotton from the proposed textile mechanism to avoid disadvantaging domestic manufacturers.
• Exempt textile inputs and machinery unavailable in the United States from Section 301 tariffs to maintain industry competitiveness.
• Develop incentive programmes in partnership with the domestic textile industry to expand U.S. production, exports and employment.

Glas argued that including raw cotton in the mechanism would encourage offshoring, increase costs for U.S. textile manufacturers and benefit Asian apparel producers competing with U.S., CAFTA-DR and USMCA supply chains.

Call for Stronger UFLPA Enforcement

NCTO also called for enhanced enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), stating that stricter implementation would increase demand for U.S. cotton while preventing products made with forced labour from entering the American market.

According to Glas, enforcement of the UFLPA has declined, and stronger implementation would help protect domestic manufacturers without harming the industry’s competitiveness.

Focus on Industry Growth

Glas said NCTO has worked alongside brands and retailers to develop proposals aimed at encouraging greater sourcing of U.S. textiles and apparel from Western Hemisphere countries.

The organisation believes such measures could double U.S. textile exports and create more than 56,000 new jobs in the United States.

Concluding her remarks, Glas said the ongoing Section 301 investigations present an important opportunity to strengthen enforcement against forced labour while supporting domestic textile manufacturing through a carefully designed trade framework.