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USA:NCTO celebrates completion of first year |
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2005-4-4
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On April 1st, NCTO celebrated its first year of operation with nearly one hundred active members from across the textile spectrum.
During its first year of operation NCTO established itself as the premier trade association for U.S. textile interests with the most extensive and comprehensive outreach of any textile trade association to the US government, Capitol Hill, the media and international bodies.
Allen Gant, the Chairman of NCTO, noted: “The road ahead is not an easy one, but not an insurmountable one either. The key to the textile industry’s continued success is unity in purpose and vision. It is the goal of NCTO’s leadership and staff to ensure this unity is maintained and utilized to the best interest of our companies and the workers we employ.”
During the past twelve months, NCTO engaged in a number of legislative, government and international initiatives to support the domestic textile industry:
International Initiatives
NCTO was a founding member of the Global Alliance for Fair Textile Trade (www.fairtextiletrade), a coalition formed last year and now consisting of 96 trade groups from 52 countries that are opposing China’s take-over of world textile and apparel trade. As a founding member, NCTO co-organized three international conferences on China which were held in Brussels, Geneva and Washington DC, and briefed dozens of governments both in Washington and Geneva on the threat from China and how it can be addressed. As a group, GAFTT was primarily responsible for the emergence of a new bloc of countries that are opposing China’s efforts to monopolize world textile and apparel trade in the post-quota era.
Washington Initiatives
On the domestic front, NCTO organized two TEXTILE UNITY events in Washington DC, including the largest lobbying day to take place in Washington in over 15 years. Over the past year, NCTO staff and leadership made more than 150 visits to members of Congress and briefed the Congressional Textile Caucus on five separate occasions. NCTO also initiated a new Congressional communication campaign with key members of Congress now getting updates on industry issues every two weeks. As a result, communications between the textile industry and Capitol Hill are better now than they have been in over a decade.
NCTO outreach to the Administration was the most extensive the industry has had in many years. These included multiple meetings between NCTO leadership, the US Trade Representative and senior White House staff. NCTO Chairman Allen Gant was named as a member of the ACTPN – Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations -- the first textile appointment to this committee in more than ten years.
NCTO successes on the domestic front included the defeat last session of a Haiti bill that would have harmed industry interests, successful application of the China textile safeguard by having quotas re-imposed in four textile and apparel categories that were removed from quota in 2002, the government’s acceptance of industry safeguard “threat petitions” on China, increased funding for the U.S. Customs Service to focus on textile enforcement, and the expansion of textile support on the Hill to include signatures from almost 175 Congressman and Senators on a letter regarding the impending threat from China.
Partnerships with Industry
NCTO was a lead player in organizing joint industry efforts on behalf of the entire textile industry, including working with the National Cotton Council and the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition to develop joint industry positions on trade and other issues.
NCTO also worked diligently to broaden industry outreach to other manufacturing and labor groups and was a founding member of the Sound Dollar Coalition and the China Currency Coalition. NCTO serves on the Executive Committee of the China Currency Coalition and participated with other major trade groups in filing the first ever 301 petition on China’s currency manipulation. NCTO is also a founding member of the CVD/NME Coalition to allow U.S. companies to take subsidy cases against China and other non-market economies.
The Media
Regarding the media, NCTO staff and leadership held or participated in almost two dozen press conferences and issued 52 press releases. NCTO staff and leadership were featured in textile news stories on CNN, Lou Dobbs, MSNBC, ABC, Bloomberg News, NPR and in hundreds of newspaper stories, including those in the New York Times, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.
Grassroots Efforts
NCTO also established a new PAC – TextilePAC – and developed a new grassroots network focused on generating support and input at the plant level of our member companies. This network was utilized to deliver thousands of letters and e-mails in support of successful industry efforts regarding the acceptance of threat petitions against China by the U.S. government. Over the past year, NCTO also developed a website, a comprehensive bi-weekly newsletter – NCTO NEWS - and a textile news information service, Textiles in the News.
In terms of member outreach, NCTO exceeded its membership goals for the year with nearly one hundred charter members from across the yarn, fabric, fiber and related industry support sectors. |
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| National Council of Textile Organizations |
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