The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) and American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) have opposed the proposed tariff escalation for all US imports from Mexico. These organisations have sent a letter to the American President Donald Trump stating that raising tariffs on US imports from Mexico will hurt US workers. Currently, hundreds of thousands of American workers are deployed in production and other key value chains that depend on the North American trade partnership with Mexico, which is the market for half of all U.S. textile exports.

These planned tariffs will also disrupt and distract congressional passage of the pending U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a key administration priority. Besides, it threatens the country’s trade relationship with Mexico and the competitive advantage it offers in terms of thousands of American jobs in the apparel, footwear, travel goods, and textile industries.