U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, On May 18, 2017, notified Congress that President Trump aims to review the North American Free Trade Agreement. NAFTA is a trilateral free trade agreement among the United States, Mexico and Canada. According to the official statement by the President and CEO of National Council of Textile Organizations, Auggie Tantillo; “The U.S. textile industry welcomes President Trump’s decision to renegotiate NAFTA.”
Tantillo continued; “It is in America’s national interest to modernize the agreement. Let me be clear: NAFTA is vital to the prosperity of the U.S. textile industry, and NCTO steadfastly supports continuing the agreement. With that said, NAFTA can be improved to incentivize more textile and apparel jobs and production in the United States, Canada, and Mexico,”
Tantillo further added that; “Eliminating loopholes that shift production to third-party countries like China and devoting more customs enforcement resources to stop illegal third-country transshipments are two changes that would make the agreement better.” He also said that; “We look forward to working with our industry partners throughout the NAFTA region to improve this agreement for all,” Tantillo finished.
