Archive for the ‘Import Administration’ Category

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How New Legislation will Support Our Textile Industry

October 9, 2012

Kim Glas is the deputy assistant secretary for textiles and apparel within the International Trade Administration’s Import Administration division.

Deputy Assistant Secretary Kim Glas and Under Secretary Francisco Sanchez tour Unifi's sewing thread manufacturing facility in Yadkinville, North Carolina on October 9, 2012.

Deputy Assistant Secretary Kim Glas and Under Secretary Francisco Sanchez tour Unifi’s sewing thread manufacturing facility in Yadkinville, North Carolina on October 9, 2012.

I am visiting North Carolina today with the Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Francisco Sánchez to see first-hand two state of the art textile companies – Unifi and A&E. Recently, President Obama signed into law an important set of technical fixes to the U.S.-Dominican Republic-Central America (CAFTA-DR) Free Trade Agreement that will have a direct impact on jobs at these two companies and sewing thread manufacturers across this state and country.

When the Agreement with our Central American neighbors was negotiated in 2003, there was a definitional loophole that incentivized the use of non-U.S. sewing thread in the assembly of textile and apparel products. As a result of this loophole, U.S. sewing thread manufacturers have seen their business and employment shrink. The Obama Administration immediately set out to address a problem that severely impacted U.S. sewing thread manufacturers.

After years of hard work, President Obama recently signed legislation to close a loophole that has jeopardized businesses and jobs in the U.S. As a result, on Saturday, October 13th, these fixes will be implemented and will have a direct impact on many sewing thread manufacturers in North Carolina. We have every expectation that once the legislation is implemented that U.S. sewing thread producers like Unifi and A&Ewill be able to recapture market share in the critical market.

This is a prime example of what can be accomplished when industry, Congress, and the Administration work toward a common goal.

Posted in Competitiveness, Exporting, Import Administration, International Trade Administration, Textiles | Tagged , | 4 Comments »

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Understanding U.S. Trade Rules and Regulations

May 16, 2012

Import Administration enforces the U.S. unfair trade laws (i.e., the anti-dumping and countervailing duty laws) and develops and implements other policies and programs aimed at countering foreign unfair trade practices.

Unfair foreign pricing and government subsidies distort the free flow of goods and adversely affect American business in the global marketplace. When that happens, the International Trade Administration can take enforcement actions. ITA’s Import Administration is the agency’s lead unit on enforcing trade laws and agreements to prevent unfairly traded imports and to safeguard jobs and the competitive strength of American industry.

Following U.S. law, regulation, and consistent with international trade rules, the Department of Commerce has the authority to conduct investigations of the alleged subsidization or dumping of foreign products sold in the United States.   

If a U.S. industry believes that it is being injured by dumped or subsidized imports, it may request the imposition of antidumping or countervailing duties by filing a petition with both the Department of Commerce and the United States International Trade Commission (ITC).

If Commerce determines that a petition satisfies all requirements under the law to initiate an investigation, the agency will publish a Notice of Initiation in the Federal Register. The Notice of Initiation will lay out a general history of the proceeding, including dates of official filings as well as the scope of the investigation, explain how Commerce went about making a determination of industry support, and details how the petitioners went about estimating the existence of dumping or subsidization.

The ITC determines whether the domestic industry is suffering material injury (or the threat thereof) as a result of the imports under investigation. In so doing, the ITC considers all relevant economic factors, including the domestic industry’s output, sales, market share, employment, and profits.

If both Commerce and the ITC make affirmative findings of dumping and/or subsidization and injury, Commerce instructs the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to assess duties against imports of that product into the United States. The duties are normally assessed as a percentage of the value of the imports and are equivalent to the dumping and subsidy margins.

Commerce conducts its investigations in accordance with statutorily mandated deadlines and in an open and transparent manner with full opportunity for interested parties to provide relevant information and defend their interests.  These investigations proceed on the basis of an administrative record on which all information and arguments relevant to the decisions are placed.  Preliminary and final determinations are made on the basis of this record, reflecting the parties’ responses to Commerce questionnaires, the on-site verification of such responses in the foreign country, case briefs and arguments made by the parties and, where requested, public hearings.  The investigation results are also subject to probing domestic judicial review and must be consistent with WTO rules.

Visit Import Administration for more information on Department of Commerce’s investigation procedures.

Posted in Competitiveness, Import Administration | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment »

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Congressional Hearing in Pennsylvania Links Government Trade Resources to Small Business

April 10, 2012

Tipten Troidl has been working with the International Trade Administration for thirteen years. Currently, she is serving as the Acting Director for the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs.

Small businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy and we need them exporting in order to reach the President’s National Export Initiative (NEI) of doubling exports by the end of 2014.

On Monday, Joseph Hanley, the Regional Director for the U.S and Foreign Commercial Service testified in Pittsburgh [before the House Small Business Committee] on the “Impact of U.S. Trade Policies on Small Businesses and Manufacturing.”  Joe represented the International Trade Administration before the House Small Business Committee’s Chairman Tipton (CO) and Ranking Member Critz (PA). 

Hanley noted that ITA’s main objectives are to expand U.S. exports and to create jobs.  The Commercial Service has 108 domestic offices around the country with three in Pennsylvania.  The Pennsylvania U.S. Export Assistance Centers have provided 4,000 individual trade counseling sessions to over 1,000  Pennsylvania business in the past 1 ½ years.  We are pleased to announce that because of these services 257 Pennsylvania companies have reported 688 export successes valued at more than $500 million to 91 different countries. More importantly, 62% of these companies have fewer than 100 employees.

Pennsylvania has a plethora of success stories. 

Hanley told the Congressmen about RPM industries, a small business that manufactures pre-lubrication and fluid evacuation for diesel and gasoline engines. His team helped RPM Industries expand its export development strategy by having RPM participate in an overseas trade mission event, Trade Winds, to Brazil.  Hanley happily reported that RPM Industries expects to have sold almost $1 million of its products to Brazil by the end of this year.  

Joe also touched on other services that ITA provides to small businesses. ITA’s Petition Counseling and Analysis Unit  provides antidumping/countervailing duty counseling. Their objective is to help U.S businesses understand U.S unfair trade laws in relation to dumping and foreign government subsidies. The work of this office not only levels the playing field for small U.S businesses but helps companies with the process of filing a petition for an investigation.

If you are a small or medium size business and you are interested in giving exporting a try, please reach out to any one of our U.S. Export Assistance Centers because someone like Joe is waiting to help you.

Posted in Commercial Service, Exporting, Import Administration, International Trade Administration, Manufacturing, National Export Initiative | Leave a Comment »

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Promoting Advanced Manufacturing in the Textile Industry

January 26, 2012
This post contains external links. Please review our external linking policy.

Kim Glas is the deputy assistant secretary for textiles and apparel within the International Trade Administration’s Import Administration division.

The textile industry is alive and well here in the United States. I’ve spent several days this week with Francisco Sánchez, under secretary for international trade, in North Carolina touring two examples of textile industry manufacturing that represent the broad spectrum of the industry.

Francisco Sanchez, under sectetary of commerce for international trade, left, listens to plant manager Keith Nicholson, right, as he toured Parkdale plant 15 in Belmont on Wednesday morning. (John Clark/The Gazette)

Francisco Sanchez, under secretary of commerce for international trade, left, listens to plant manager Keith Nicholson, right, as he toured Parkdale plant 15 in Belmont on Wednesday morning. (John Clark/The Gazette)

The first is Parkdale Mills, headquartered in Gastonia, North Carolina. Parkdale is a prime example of a textile mill that is anything but traditional. Founded in 1916, Parkdale now is the largest producer of yarn, employing 2,400 at 25 plants. Through innovation and cutting edge technology in their manufacturing process, Parkdale has been able to remain globally competitive and contributes to our more than $12 billion in yarn and fabric exports in 2010.

During the past two years, increased demand for Parkdale’s diverse mix of high quality cotton, cotton blend, and polyester yarns has allowed the company to allocate more than $100 million on capital expenditures, creating nearly 1,500 jobs.

Parkdale hosted a unique industry panel of local textile representatives, to share with us the issues facing manufacturing, the importance of innovation for advanced textile manufacturing, and the importance of industry growth in jobs and exports.

The industry representatives included Polymer Group International (PGI), Unifi, Inc., Mount Vernon, Frontier Spinning, Pharr Yarns, Hanesbrands, VF Corporation, and the North Carolina Department of Commerce who are all very familiar with the changing face of textile and apparel production here in the United States.

Many people may not be aware that the United States is the second largest single country exporter of textiles, with $20 billion in exports in 2010. Businesses that contribute to this volume of exports range from small, family-owned and operated facilities to integrated mills that operate state of the art machinery and production equipment.

The textile and apparel industry provides the U.S. economy with a major source of employment and economic activity.  The industry is one of the largest employers in the manufacturing sector. Between 2009-2010, the U.S. textile and apparel exports grew 19 percent to $20 billion, and were up 14 percent through November of 2011.

North Carolina in particular has a high concentration of our textile industry. Many global leaders of the industry call North Carolina home. Freudenberg, the world’s largest producer of nonwovens, has two locations in the state, with its North American headquarters in Durham; Kimberly Clark, a vertically integrated manufacturer and converter of nonwoven products for the health and hygiene markets, with two manufacturing facilities; and PGI, one of the world’s leading companies in the hygiene, wipes, medical, industrial, and specialty markets with production operations in four locations in the state, with its headquarters in Charlotte.

There are more than 500 performance textile businesses located in 76 out of 100 counties across North Carolina. Performance textiles are fiber-based products that are valued for their technical function and properties as well as their aesthetics.

Our second tour was to see the future of textiles at North Carolina State College of Textiles. We toured the labs to see how technical advanced textiles are being used in aerospace, industrial, marine, medical, military, safety, and transportation. The global market for technical textiles was estimated to have a value of $93 billion in 2000 and expected growth is estimated at $127 billion in 2011.  There is huge expansion potential for this industry.

Advanced textile materials hold great potential for the U.S. textile industry, from textile heart filters, to textile composites used in airplane bodies, to highly flame resistant fabrics and clothing for soldiers, first responders and firemen – the United States is on the leading edge of new and innovative products and materials.

North Carolina State University’s College of Textiles “Centennial Campus”, is home to university colleges, departments, and research labs and also home to 61 industry and government partners who work with the university each day.  These partners are fully integrated into the university, working with faculty, students and staff.

Founded 113 years ago, the College of Textiles is the leading institution of its type with more than 2,000 graduate and undergraduate students.

The new Nonwovens Institute Partner Lab will revolutionize research and development in air, blood and water filtration and demonstrates the College’s close partnerships with leading companies throughout the world.  The Nonwovens Institute has more than 60 industry partners and is the largest industry-academic consortium in the United States.  These partners help drive the purpose-driven research taking place in the Nonwovens Institute and throughout the College of Textiles

It was a privilege to see both Parkdale Mills and the College of Textiles Centennial Campus in action. Meeting the students who are developing the future of the textile industry right here in North Carolina was a highlight of the trip. The current state of the textile industry is miles ahead of where it began and I look forward to the new innovations we will see in the near future.

Posted in Competitiveness, Exporting, Import Administration, Manufacturing, Textiles | Tagged , , | 8 Comments »

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Rebuilding Haiti, Stitch by Stitch

May 25, 2011

Maria Dybczak is an international trade specialist in the International Trade Administration’s Office of Textiles and Apparel.

Today my office, the International Trade Administration’s Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA), gave a virtual welcome to about 85 people as they participated in a one-hour Webinar on U.S. trade preferences for imports of Haitian textiles and apparel. The participants came from both the private and public sectors, and included representatives of leading U.S. retailers and importers, U.S. and Haitian manufacturers, as well as Congressional committee staff and senior officials from other U.S. agencies.

Ever since the earthquake of January 2010 that brought such incredible devastation to Haiti, ITA has been working closely with other federal agencies, the Haitian government, and U.S. retailers and importers to encourage recovery and to better assure the long-term sustainability of the Haitian economy.

One of these efforts is focused on the Haitian textile and apparel industry. Apparel makes up more than 80 percent of imports from Haiti to the United States. And as the largest manufacturing sector in Haiti, the apparel industry plays an important role in attracting long-term investment and opportunities.

The availability of duty-free access to the United States, the world’s largest apparel market, provides an enormous competitive advantage to Haitian producers. As a result, the value of apparel imports from Haiti increased by 20 percent over the past 12 months, representing nearly $600 million. It has been estimated that new development in the textile and apparel sector could create at least 20,000 new jobs in Haiti by 2013.

It’s trade such as this—which builds on Haiti’s existing economic strengths—that will help Haiti recover from the devastation of a year ago.

If you would like to listen to an audio recording of the Webinar, or see a copy of OTEXA’s presentation, they will both be available on the OTEXA website by the end of this week.

Posted in Import Administration, International Trade Administration, Textiles | Tagged , | 5 Comments »

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Bringing the Russian Market to America Part 2

May 3, 2011

John McCaslin is Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs for the U.S. Foreign and Commercial Service in Moscow, Russia.

Leaving Cincinnati on a Sunday  I would start the toughest part of my journey, four cities in five days.  Arrived very late Sunday night in Baltimore via Minneapolis due to cancellation of the original direct flight.  The BRIC program started first thing Monday morning at a downtown hotel and featured an excellent keynote address by our Assistant Secretary for Trade Promotion, Suresh Kumar, followed by individual country plenary presentations on each of the four markets, and then concurrent breakout sessions on more specific aspects of doing business in these markets by successful US companies; a great program all in all, with over 100 business participants.

As noted earlier, these types of business outreach programs are put together by our outstanding domestic field and their local partners, in this case the Baltimore U.S. Export Assistance Center (USEAC) and the state of Maryland.  Again,  all I had to do was show up.  Baltimore is a great venue for these types of programs because of its proximity to Washington, which makes it easy to bring in senior U.S. Department of Commerce management, our Market Access and Compliance country desk officers and Commerical Service Regional Directors; quite a formidable array of U.S. government resources all brought together to support our US business clients in a very practical and informative format.

As usual, the local USEAC set up meetings for me at the hotel with individual local companies interested in the Russian market, so after my presentation to the larger group and before hopping on a plane for my next city, I met with two local firms.  One company, an experienced manufacturer and distributor of dental products with lots of international sales, was already established in Russia and was coming to me for advice on a problem with their exclusive Russian distributor.  This is a pretty typical case for many US firms that come our way and we always try to do our best to help them out.  The issue involved counterfeit products of the US company showing up in Russia, which was hurting legitimate sales.  Intellectual property rights (IPR) is a big issue in Russia and one in which we are well equipped to assist, since we have a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Attache that sits in our FCS office in Moscow and a Russian IP attorney on staff.  I put the US firm in touch with our IPR staff in Moscow along with our Commercial Specialist who covers the medical sector, so they will be in good hands.

The second company was a well established manufacturer from Pennsylvania that sold duct work accessories into the HVAC sector in a number of foreign markets.  They have had some passive export sales to Russia, but really wanted to do much more.  I had a feeling we could really help this company so that day I put them in touch with our Moscow Commercial Specialist who covers this sector in order to start a dialogue and also looped in our Pittsburgh USEAC, which has worked with this company in the past.  Looking ahead to possible trade promotion opportunities, I let this firm know about a proposed energy efficiency trade mission to Russia later this year that the US Dept of Energy is planning with support from our agency.  This could be an interesting market entry vehicle for the company since the mission would be designed to bring Russian firms to the US and then take US firms to Russia in order consummate in-depth, long lasting business relationships.

Next stop Cleveland.

Posted in Commercial Service, Exporting, Import Administration, Interagency, International Trade Administration, Trade Shows and Trade Events | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

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OTEXA Scores Global Exposure for US Military Textiles at DSEi 2009

October 5, 2009

Mary Lynn Landgraf has been working for the past seven years in the Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) as a Senior International Trade Specialist specializing in technical textiles with an emphasis on military, hospitality and contract textiles. Ms. Landgraf brings years of private sector textile experience in international sales and marketing to her job and enjoys tackling and opening up new markets for the US textile industry.

All good things come in threes as is often quoted and OTEXA can validate the truth in the quote! I just returned from our third trade show appearance at the biennial Defense Systems & Equipment International Exhibition 2009 (DSEi 2009)—a whopping success of a military show with 1352 exhibitors from over 40 countries and 27 international pavilions. Add to these dynamic figures 77 delegations from 50 countries hosted by the UK Ministry of Defense and the scene is totally international and in the cross-hairs of defense issues. If you are looking for the latest technology from the global military community, you can find it at DSEi!

Tim Schoenheit of Cascade Coil Drapery stops by the booth to explain Blast Mitigation Curtain properties to Mary Lynn Landgraf, OTEXA Booth organizer. Photo U.S. Department of Commerce

Tim Schoenheit of Cascade Coil Drapery stops by the booth to explain Blast Mitigation Curtain properties to Mary Lynn Landgraf, OTEXA Booth organizer. Photo U.S. Department of Commerce

The Association of the US Army (AUSA) hosted the U.S. pavilion where OTEXA had its booth. I showcased 12 companies in our Sample Booth and proudly introduced our products to the global military market that spends a hefty $1.46 trillion dollars. The world came to our doorstep seeking innovation, state of the science fabrics, garments, inputs, linings, vests, shelters, socks, filtration devices, medical kits. The list was endless, but we had or knew of the resources to address their requests. Over 67 companies approached our booth seeking U.S. technical textile products for the military. Many companies in the U.S. supply the type of products they are seeking, providing an enormous amount of potential for future sales.

The OTEXA sample booth is the perfect venue to introduce your products to global military buyers and procurement officers. To learn more about how to join us at DSEi 2011 or any of our upcoming textile and apparel trade shows please contact Kim-Bang Nguyen or Mary Lynn Landgraf at 202.482.3737!

Posted in Import Administration, Textiles, Trade Shows and Trade Events | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment »

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