Members of the National Council of Textile Organisations (NCTO) are urging the Trump administration to include apparel and certain textile items in the next round of tariffs.

Currently, apparel, home furnishings and made-up textiles are not part of the $200 billion in Chinese goods subject to a 25 percent tariff that increased from 10 percent on imports entering the United States after June 15.

Now, the office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer, is considering a new round of tariffs, called Tranche 4, which would impose tariffs on an additional $325 billion in Chinese goods covering just about everything imported from China.

Kim Glas, President and Chief Executive, NCTO testified on June 20 in Washington, D.C., that the United States should slap tariffs on more products to crack down on China’s abuse of intellectual-property rights.

She called for tariffs to be imposed on apparel, home furnishings and made-up textiles, which make up 93.5 percent of U.S. imports from China in the textile and apparel sector while fiber, yarn and fabric imports from China represent only 6.5 percent.

However, Glas urged the administration not to put tariffs on imports removed from the previous retaliatory tariff lists. These inputs include certain machinery, dyes, chemicals and textile components not available domestically, such as rayon staple fiber.