Fashion Intel & Analysis
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In an advance Federal Register notice, the Federal Trade Commission announces amended rules and regulations for the Textile Fiber Products Identification Act to incorporate the most recent ISO 2076 standard for generic fiber names. Additions to the ISO include seven generic names that were not previously included. They are: chitin, ceramic, polybenzimidazol, polycarbamide, polypropylene/polyamide bicomponent, protein, and trivinyl. The FTC says the amendments would provide greater flexibility for fiber disclosure requirements.
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In a letter from five Democratic lawmakers [Senators Tom Udall (D-NM) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Representatives Alan Lowenthal (D-CA), Steve Cohen (D-TN) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), they call on President Trump to make the elimination of plastic pollution one of the priorities in the negotiation of the U.S.-Kenya Free Trade Agreement. Joined by 62 bipartisan lawmakers in the letter, they specifically oppose the export of more plastic waste to Kenya and support Kenya’s actions to curb the production of single-use products. According to the letter, in 2019 the United States exported more than 1 billion pounds of plastic waste to 96 countries, including Kenya. In 2017 Kenya moved to restrict plastic bags and single-use plastic products in certain protected areas to combat the impact of pollution.
The letter says, “The United States has not only failed to be a leader, but instead is actively working against progress on tackling this pollution. The United States’ solution to the plastic pollution crisis cannot be to simply open more markets abroad for plastic products and find destinations to send increasing amounts of plastic waste. This is totally at odds with the global policy solution to prevent plastic pollution—not to mention climate change.”
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In today’s Federal Register, the Agriculture Marketing Service at the Agriculture Department announces changes in the assessments on cotton imports. This is a mandatory annual review of the assessment on imported cotton and cotton products. The calculation is based on the average weighted price received by U.S. producers of Upland cotton for the calendar year 2019. The AMS action decreases the assessment on imported cotton by -5.4% percent from $0.012222 per kilogram to $0.011562per kilogram, a decrease of -$0.00066 per kilogram.
Every year the Agriculture Department publishes an update to ensure that assessments collected on imported cotton and the cotton content of imported products will be the same as those paid on domestically produced cotton.
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On Friday the Trump Administration released a new report called “The Buy American, Hire American President: A Report by the White House of Trade & Manufacturing Policy.” The report begins with this introduction: “Since the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump on January 20th, 2017, the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy’s mission at the White House has been to help the greatest jobs president and trade negotiator in history rebuild America’s manufacturing base.” Trade policy, including the negotiation of USMCA and the imposition of new tariffs on China, steel and aluminum, as well as washing machines and solar panels, is one of the highlights in the report. Over the weekend, President Trump issued a Proclamation to mark October 5 as Made in America Day and this week as Made in America Week to “to pay special tribute to builders, ranchers, crafters, entrepreneurs, and all those who work with their hands every day to make America great.”
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In today’s Federal Register, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announces technical corrections to the Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) with respect to goods of USMCA countries entered for consumption. The following corrections are related to cotton goods.
(1) by inserting “9823.52.04” in the “Heading/Subheading” column for the article
description, “Cotton or man-made fiber fabrics and made up goods as provided in note
11(a)(ii)”, and by redesignating subheading 9823.52.04, with the article description
“Goods provided for in note 11(a)(ii)(A)”, as 9823.52.05;
(2) by redesignating subheading 9823.52.05 as 9823.52.06;
(3) by redesignating subheading 9823.52.06 as 9823.52.07;
(4) by redesignating subheading 9823.52.07 as 9823.52.08; and
(5) by redesignating subheading 9823.52.03, with the article description “Cotton or manmade fiber fabrics and made-up goods as provided for in note 11(b)(ii)”, as 9823.53.03.
