TNAG-0147-FCO40-183-Exports-of-textiles-to-United-States-of-America-1969 — Page 159

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imports on the one hand, and the decline in the output of cotton textiles in the United States, now below the levels of 1961, on the other. Thus imports have been mounting while domestic production has been declining, a situation which has produced an increasingly severe impact in the United States cotton textile market.

We have also considered the views of exporting countries on various problems they have faced during the life of the LTA. We hope this meeting will provide further insight into the views of other partici- pants as to the extension of the Arrangement.

The Long-Term Arrangement in a multi-fiber textile world:

We should recognize the changes that have taken place in world trade and production of textiles and the emergence of today's multi- fiber industry. In surveying textile developments over the life of this Arrangement, one cannot help but note that the increase in relative importance of man-made fiber products in total textile production is one of the most conspicuous and significant facts today. While cotton consumption in the United States has fallen off there has been a striking increase in the use of man-made fibers. In the United States in 1961-62 when the LTA was negotiated, man-made fibers represented only 30% of the fibers consumed by the United States textile industry; cotton then accounted for over 60%. Now man-made fibers account for more than 50% of consumption as cotton's importance has declined, and this trend is continuing. Blended goods have also become a major factor in the market and are now a major component of United States textile imports. Indeed, during 1969, for the first time, imports of man-made fiber textile products are exceeding imports of cotton textile products.

The tremendous surge of man-made fiber textile imports is of major concern to the United States Government. This year these imports are running at an annual rate of 1.8 billion yards. Imports of man-made fiber apparel are running at an annual rate of 930 million yards as compared with 558 million yards in 1968 and 92 million yards in 1964. These imports in eight months of 1969 are well above cotton apparel imports and already exceed total cotton apparel imports for 1968 by more than 100 million yards. In this field also, as in cotton, the trend is toward the importation of apparel and other of the more

labor intensive goods.

At the same time wool textile imports are running at very high levels, with a similar emphasis on more highly manufactured goods. Penetration of the United States market for these products is at an all-time high with imports enjoying more than one fourth of the domestic market. The decline in imports of certain products from last year's level notwithstanding, imports of wool apparel are 33% above the levels reached in 1966 and 1967,

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