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US Textile industry opposition delays vote on trade bill for Haiti

25 Sep 2006 19:55:37 GMT

By Doug Palmer

WASHINGTON, Sept 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. textile industry has derailed plans for the U.S. House of Representatives to vote this week on extending trade benefits for developing countries, congressional aides said on Monday.

A spokeswoman for Rep. Robin Hayes, a North Carolina Republican, said House leaders have told her boss they no longer plan to vote on bill before lawmakers leave town at the end of this week to campaign for the Nov. 7 elections.

"It won't come up this week," Hayes spokeswoman Carolyn Hern said. "Robin was very concerned that the textile industry did not have time to voice their concerns in a public way and work with authors of the bill."

A second Republican aide, speaking on condition he not be identified, said it was unlikely the bill would reach the floor before lawmakers returned in November.

"The textile states did raise some concerns," he said.

House leaders had hoped to pass the trade benefits bill on the "suspension calendar," which is generally reserved for noncontroversial legislation and requires a two-thirds vote for approval.

But the bill, which was introduced late last week by House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas, a California Republican, ran into stiff opposition from U.S. textile producers, who said provisions for Haiti and African countries created "enormous loopholes" for China to flood the U.S. market.

Rep. Charles Rangel, the top-ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, urged House Republicans to put the bill "back on the suspension calendar so that Congress can pass these important trade benefits before they expire."

The main U.S. trade benefits program for developing countries -- the Generalized System of Preferences -- expires on Dec. 31. It waives imports duties on more than 4,650 products from 144 designated countries and territories.

The Thomas bill extends the program for two years, but imposes new eligibility criteria to curtail benefits for large developing countries like Brazil and India.

In a statement released on Sunday, the National Council of Textile Organization focused their attention on sections of the bill providing trade benefits for Haiti and Africa.

"Under this legislation, Haiti, as well as most African countries, will be able to use Chinese fabric or Chinese yarns for apparel production while every other preference partner must use regionally made yarns and fabrics," said Cass Johnson, president of the textile group.

"This is a benefit that cannot be beat given China's state-owned and subsidized textile sector and its use of currency manipulation. Thus, while under this bill China wins, regional producers, including the U.S. industry, will be the big losers," Johnson said.