“Thank you to President Trump for making Buy American a priority,” said NCTO President & CEO Auggie Tantillo on behalf of the US textile industry. “Buying American is good for the country, good for American jobs, and good for the US textile industry.”

“NCTO has had a longstanding policy of supporting Buy American laws. We intend to work with the Trump administration to help it improve implementation and enforcement of these job creating statutes and regulations.”

Berry Amendment

“Since 1941, a Buy American law applying to the Department of Defense (DOD) known as the Berry Amendment has supported American troops, strengthened national security, and incentivised US textile industry investment and innovation. This is a concrete example of how Buy American laws benefit the U.S. economy and its workers,” said Tantillo, noting that DOD sourced roughly US$ 1.5 billion in textiles and clothing last year under the Berry Amendment.

The Berry Amendment, 10 U.S.C. 2533a, requires the Department of Defense to buy textiles and clothing made with 100% US content and labour.

Another Buy American law, the Kissell Amendment, 6 USC 453b, requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to buy US made textiles and clothing, but currently is only applied within DHS to the US Coast Guard and, with some exceptions, the Transportation Security Administration.

NCTO

The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) is a unique association representing the entire spectrum of the textile industry. NCTO aims to act as a voice of the US textile industry from fibres to finished products, machinery manufacturers to power suppliers.

There are four separate councils that comprise the NCTO leadership structure, and each council represents a segment of the textile industry and elects its own officers who make up NCTO’s Board of Directors.

The Fiber Council represents domestic textile denier fibre producers. The Yarn Council represents domestic yarn manufacturers. The Fabric & Home Furnishings Council represents domestic manufacturers of fabric, including woven, knitted, non-woven, tufted, braided or other, and home furnishings. Finally, the Industry Support Council includes textile distributors; converters, dyers, printers and finishers of textiles; and suppliers of products and services to such fibre and textile entities.

www.ncto.org

Further reading

NCTO eager to work with Trump administration

NCTO endorses President Trump’s trade policy