Title: Opposing any inclusion of apparel, textile, and footwear products in the Generalized System of Preferences.
Policy area: Foreign Trade and International Finance

Summary:
This resolution supports reauthorizing the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) but opposes any inclusion of apparel, textile, and footwear products in the GSP. Further, it recognizes that including apparel, textiles, and footwear in the GSP would be detrimental to certain imports to the United States and to jobs that depend on the trade generated by those imports.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1178 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1178

 Opposing any inclusion of apparel, textile, and footwear products in 
                 the Generalized System of Preferences.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 2, 2020

 Mr. Sires (for himself, Mr. Diaz-Balart, Mr. Espaillat, and Ms. Bass) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, 
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 
                        the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Opposing any inclusion of apparel, textile, and footwear products in 
                 the Generalized System of Preferences.

Whereas the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) was authorized by title V of 
        the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2461 et seq.) to promote economic 
        growth in developing countries and, from January 1, 1976, has provided 
        duty-free treatment to goods of designated beneficiary countries;
Whereas the 115th Congress most recently reauthorized the GSP program until 
        December 31, 2020;
Whereas GSP was carefully designed to exclude import-sensitive industries, such 
        as textiles and apparel, to ensure that domestic producers and component 
        suppliers would not be harmed;
Whereas certain industry groups have proposed expanding GSP-eligible products to 
        include textile, apparel, and footwear products;
Whereas in a joint letter sent to the Committee on Ways and Means of the House 
        of Representatives on November 27, 2019, the governments of Colombia, 
        Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras 
        warned that expanding GSP to include textile, apparel, and footwear 
        products would lead to massive layoffs in these sectors, which provide 
        2,000,000 direct jobs in Latin America;
Whereas the United States trade in goods and services with the Western 
        Hemisphere totaled $1,900,000,000,000 in 2018;
Whereas according to the Department of Commerce, United States exports of goods 
        and services to the Western Hemisphere supported an estimated 3,800,000 
        jobs in 2015;
Whereas according to data from the Office of Textiles and Apparel, the Western 
        Hemisphere trade in textile and apparel products directly supports 
        nearly 70 percent of United States textile and apparel exports and 
        $35,000,000,000 in two-way trade;
Whereas United States trade relations with other countries in the Western 
        Hemisphere not only advance United States economic interests, but also 
        advance prosperity, security, and economic opportunity in these 
        countries, reducing the root causes of irregular migration and 
        minimizing the conditions of poverty and unemployment that can enable 
        drug-trafficking and other illegal economic activity;
Whereas United States trade agreements such as the United States-Mexico-Canada 
        Agreement, the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement, 
        and the United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement include clear 
        standards for labor and environmental rights and rules of origin;
Whereas GSP does not include any standards for environmental protection under 
        its eligibility criteria for beneficiary developing countries;
Whereas while Haiti is also a beneficiary under GSP, its textile industry is 
        heavily dependent on exports to the United States under the Caribbean 
        Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA) and the Haitian Hemispheric 
        Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act;
Whereas adding textile and apparel to GSP would diminish the preferences Haiti 
        receives under the CBTPA;
Whereas China, while not GSP-eligible, would indirectly benefit from a GSP 
        expansion because it is a major supplier of textile and apparel 
        component parts to numerous beneficiary countries under GSP, with 36 
        percent of China's global textile exports being shipped currently to GSP 
        nations;
Whereas the United States has a strong interest in supporting trade and 
        investment with sub-Saharan Africa beyond the African Growth and 
        Opportunity Act (AGOA), which is scheduled to terminate in 2025;
Whereas AGOA has provided duty-free treatment for essentially all goods from 
        eligible sub-Saharan African countries with the goal of leveraging 
        expanded trade and investment to promote economic development and 
        poverty alleviation across the continent while strengthening United 
        States-Africa economic ties;
Whereas AGOA's apparel imports from sub-Saharan Africa have risen from 
        $355,000,000 in 2000, to $1,400,000,000 in 2019, generating an estimated 
        1,300,000 new garment jobs in Africa, yet still representing less than 2 
        percent of global United States apparel imports of $83,800,000,000 in 
        2019;
Whereas key apparel producers currently receiving GSP benefits already export 
        more apparel to the United States individually than all apparel 
        exporters in the 38 AGOA-eligible countries combined, including--

    (1) $4,400,000,000 from Indonesia;

    (2) $2,700,000,000 from Cambodia; and

    (3) $1,500,000,000 from Pakistan;

Whereas members of the African Diplomatic Corps, on September 9, 2020, requested 
        that the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Trade seriously 
        consider the ``devastating impact to Africa'' if the GSP program were 
        expanded to include duty-free treatment for apparel; and
Whereas similar concerns about the inclusion of garments and textiles in GSP 
        were registered by the Government of Ghana, the African Cotton and 
        Textile Industry Federation, and members of the United States bipartisan 
        AGOA coalition: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) reiterates its support for preserving Western 
        Hemisphere supply chains, recognizing that these supply chains 
        have provided economic benefits for the United States and its 
        partners, while fostering efforts to improve labor and 
        environmental standards in the hemisphere;
            (2) recognizes that inclusion of apparel, textiles, and 
        footwear in the Generalized System of Preferences program would 
        be detrimental to imports to the United States receiving 
        preferential treatment under the African Growth and Opportunity 
        Act (AGOA) and to jobs that depend on AGOA trade in Africa; and
            (3) supports a reauthorization of the Generalized System of 
        Preferences, but opposes any inclusion of apparel, textile, and 
        footwear products in the Generalized System of Preferences.
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