The Trump administration’s decision to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has unsettled U.S. fashion, apparel, and textile companies that have constructed their businesses around its provisions. The renegotiation began in Washington, D.C. on August 16 with an optimistic completion date by the end of the year. The big question remains: Who will be the winners and losers in these talks? And just as importantly, is there more than money at stake?
NAFTA aimed to eliminate barriers to trade and investment among Mexico, Canada, and the United States. Qualifying U.S. apparel, footwear, leather, textile and travel goods enter into Canada and Mexico duty-free. And for the past 20 some years, NAFTA has allowed U.S. companies to develop regional supply chains. For many companies, NAFTA supports domestic retail jobs, the cotton growers and the mills that make the material that then goes into NAFTA-made apparel products, imported and sent to retailers. NAFTA has been good for textile and apparel and they recognize both the value of NAFTA and the problems with pulling out of the agreement. In fact, the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA), Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) and U.S. Fashion Industry Association (USFIA) all sent letters to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) urging him to “do no harm” to the existing agreement because NAFTA supports hundreds of thousands of U.S. textile and clothing jobs, along with retail operations in all states. That being said, these companies and industries do not have the same goals or shared interests.
