FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Samantha Sault at 301-685-5009 or
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States Fashion Industry Association (USFIA) applauds the bipartisan passage in the U.S. Senate yesterday evening of the Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015, which renews and extends several important programs for our industry.
“We thank the U.S. Senate for taking such quick action to pass the trade preferences legislation,” said USFIA President Julia K. Hughes. The legislation renews the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), and trade preference programs with Haiti.
“In our recent benchmarking study of 30 leading brands, retailers, importers, and wholesalers, we found an urgent need to renew these programs quickly and for a long term,” explained Hughes.
“In particular, 1/3 of companies support immediate renewal of AGOA—and since many companies are already sourcing well past the program’s current expiration date, we strongly urge the House to pass the legislation and send it to President Obama for a signature as soon as possible,” she added.
In the study, 48 percent and 41 percent of respondents, respectively, support long-term renewal of AGOA and renewal of the program’s third-country fabric provision. In addition, 26 percent said they expect to source more from the AGOA region if the program is renewed for a longer term.
Furthermore, 83 percent of respondents support immediate renewal of GSP, while 22 percent already use the Haiti preference programs for both import and export purposes.
The full study is available on our website.
About the United States Fashion Industry Association
The United States Fashion Industry Association (USFIA) represents the fashion industry: textile and apparel brands, retailers, importers, and wholesalers based in the United States and doing business globally. Founded in 1989 as the United States Association of Importers of Textiles & Apparel with the goal of eliminating the global apparel quota system, USFIA now works to eliminate the tariff and non-tariff barriers that impede the industry’s ability to trade freely and create economic opportunities in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.usfashionindustry.com.