The National Council of Textile Organisations (NCTO) has proposed four steps to combat the trade loopholes affecting US manufacturers. Credit: Shutterstock.

NCTO has delivered a testimony at a congressional hearing to highlight the rise of imports arriving in the US containing apparel made with forced labour, counterfeit goods, and dangerous narcotics and share how these imports pose severe risks to consumers’ communities and the nation’s fashion manufacturing sector.

Glas emphasised that around 72% of all Chinese cotton products contain cotton from Xinjiang, which is accused of forced labour practices.

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She believes this illicit trade has forced US textile plants to reduce production and lay off workers, with some companies going out of business altogether.

According to Glas the heart of the issue lies in the failure to curb forced labour trade despite the the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) being enacted to address that very concern.

She stated: “The de minimis loophole has become a superhighway for illicit goods as a result of ineffective rulemaking and a lack of adequate congressional action and it’s a threat to us all.”

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NCTO proposes four steps to tackle forced labour in US fashion supply chain

  1. Aggressively oversee UFLPA customs enforcement, require regular testifying from customs officials, detail to congress and the public a forward-leaning enforcement plan, increase penalties, and include measurable benchmarks for cracking down on illegal trade.
  2. Use legislation to close the de minimis loophole for e-commerce, addressing fentanyl, forced labour, and counterfeits, and requiring the administration to use executive authorities for enforcement.
  3. The administration should expand the UFLPA Entity List to include companies outside of China, as only 27 entities currently operate on the list.
  4. Increase enforcement, inspections, and penalties by aggressively increasing testing, and verification visits in free trade agreement partners, and enhancing coordination.

Glas pointed out that Chinese apparel tainted by forced labour is worth billions of dollars and is getting the “VIP treatment” by going straight to consumers doors courtesy of the de minimis loophole at the expense of workers and manufacturers in the US and “critical regional supply chains”.

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Glas added: “This is an economic fire, a health fire, and a human rights fire — and we need it extinguished immediately. An aggressive enforcement plan, coupled with a set of rational revisions to the outdated and now extremely dangerous de minimis loophole in our trade law would prevent the continuation of this devastation, but Congress and the Executive Branch must decisively act now.”

In early October, the NCTO and US senators called on President Biden to tackle the impact of China’s so-called “predatory” trade practices” on the country’s domestic apparel manufacturing sector.