Statement by the Representative of the United States at the Meeting of
the GATT Cotton Textiles Committee
October 8, 1969
Introduction:
The United States is pleased to have this opportunity again to discuss the textile situation with representatives of the governments of the textile trading and producing community. In my statement I shall review United States cotton textile trade, conditions in the domestic producing industry, developments in the implementation of the Long-Term Arrangement, and I shall briefly comment on certain changes that have taken place in the trade and in the industry. My govern- believes that the implications of these changes must be carefully considered to ensure for the future the healthy development of the world's textile trade and industry.
Review of the Long-Term Arrangement:
As we review the operation of the LTA at the conclusion of its 7th year, my government believes that the Arrangement has functioned to the advantage of all concerned those who produce and are employed in the United States and as well as those who manufacture and sell to the United States and other countries. I will not recount the well- known principles established in the LTA concerning the orderly growth of textile trade and the need to avoid market disruption. But I do wish to discuss the growth and some of the changes that have taken place in U.S. trade in these products.
Cotton textile imports into the United States during the 7th LTA year amounted to 1.7 billion square yards equivalent as compared with 1.1 billion yards in the first LTA year and just over 800 million yards during the base year for the Short-Term Arrangement. Cver this period, imports of cotton textiles and apparel rose faster than domestic output. Even so, the overall figures do not reveal certain significant developments affecting our trade. For example, in the fourth LTA year, the peak year to date, the United States imported 361 million square yards equivalent of cotton yarn about one-fifth
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of total cotton textile imports. During the 7th LTA year imports of cotton yarn were down sharply to about one twelfth of total imports, but imports of apparel, fabrics, and other goods rose sub- stantially above the levels reached in the fourth LTA year. This development underscores the shift toward more highly manufactured goods for export to the United States which has been occurring in recent years.
Between the first and seventh LTA years the value of apparel imports increased 80%. This shift to more labor intensive goods has helped the exporting countries, but it has placed a greater burden on U.S. labor and industry.
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