Homeland Security Eyeing Plan to ‘Safeguard the American Textile Industry’

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is developing an action plan to aid beleaguered domestic textile manufacturers.

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas met with members of the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) virtually on Tuesday to discuss the impacts of illegal foreign influence on the country’s textile producers, including factory closures and loss of business.

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American textile makers of varying sizes that support the supply chains for apparel, home goods and furniture, industrial applications and personal protective equipment (PPE) were present at the meeting. They spoke to the blows the industry has endured as a result of violations of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) and the free flow of cheap goods facilitated by the de minimis shipment exception.

As a result of their testimony, Secretary Mayorkas has enlisted U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and other agencies and offices within DHS to accelerate enforcement of illegal customs practices. He directed the agencies to develop a comprehensive enforcement action plan within 30 days, including a determination of whether current trade legislation provides sufficient recourse for the resolution of these issues.

“DHS will use all the tools at its disposal, including identifying suspicious transshipment practices, publicly identifying bad actors, isotopic testing, random parcel inspections, and other law enforcement efforts, in order to protect the integrity of our markets, hold perpetrators accountable, and safeguard the American textile industry,” Secretary Mayorkas said Tuesday.

According to DHS, CBP has already stepped up its efforts to root out shipments that violate U.S. trade law. The agency relies primarily on physical inspection, textile production verification visits and audits. It also tests and analyzes products in its laboratory, and has increased its ability to perform isotopic testing on imports under suspicion of being made with forced labor.

Meanwhile, HSI investigates allegations of labor exploitation with the goal of identifying employers involved in criminal activity and worker rights violations. DHS, which is chair of the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force, works with other agencies as well as the private sector to build out the UFLPA Entity List.

NCTO president and CEO Kim Glas told Sourcing Journal the meeting was an opportunity for its members to speak to the “economic destruction” facing the U.S. textile industry.

The attendees emphasized the conditions within local communities where textile manufacturing is a key economic driver. “We have lost eight [textile] plants in the matter of three months,” she said. “There are certain activities that the administration can take immediately to help stem this tide.”

According to Glas, there is a “strong contingency of Republicans, Democrats and industry leaders” calling for stepped-up free-trade agreement (FTA) enforcement, penalties for UFLPA violations and de minimis reform.

“De minimis is killing our industry, and it’s killing our Western Hemisphere Free Trade Agreement partners,” Glas said. Trade partners across the Americas are also contending with “significant demand destruction” as more small offshore shipments make their way into the U.S.

“Half of the de minimis shipments are estimated to be textile and apparel products,” the NCTO lead added. The trade “loophole” has facilitated “the meteoric rise of Shein and Temu, which have been rewarded with duty-free trade regardless of where their products are made, what they’re made with who they’re made by.” NCTO has argued that the law has helped China-based exporters evade UFLPA enforcement.

NCTO members hope to see public-facing actions like enhanced enforcement and civil and criminal penalties for bad actors, as well as greater behind-the-scenes efforts to catch violators, including more isotopic testing and site inspections.

Glas was buoyed by Secretary Mayorkas’ response to the meeting and his promise of swift remediation. “He understands the seriousness of these issues and the gravity of the situation facing the U.S. textile industry, and committed to us that he would implement an immediate action plan.”