Chinese Imports Are Up

I just now got around to reading an April first Associated Press article (Government Reports China's Imports Up, BY Martin Crutsinger) that says imports of textiles and apparel were up in the first three months of this year. The article says that 78.3 million cotton knit shirts were imported from China in the first three months of the year. That was an increase of over 1,200 percent from the same period last year. There were 74.1 million cotton trousers imported from China in the first quarter of this year. That is an increase of over 1,500 percent from a year ago. Textile industry officials say a new government report shows that Chinese imports are disrupting the U.S. market. They are trying to get the government to reinstitute quotas which had been in place for more than three decades, they were lifted at the beginning of this year. Auggie Tantillo, executive director of the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition said that 17,200 U.S. textile and apparel manufacturing jobs had already been lost this year. He says more jobs will be lost unless the government takes action immediately. The government report shows that since imports from China started to surge other countries that had been shipping to the United States started seeing a decrease in their sales. Shipments of cotton trousers from Mexico fell by 5.24 percent in the first quarter of 2005.

What bothers me most about this problem is the fact that most of the factories that are manufacturing the clothing in China are owned by companies from the United States. A lot of them closed shop in the United States and moved to Mexico when NAFTA took effect. When the Mexicans started expecting a livable wage they started looking for a new home, which they found in China. At some point in the future I look for them to move again, always in search of cheaper labor. They are loyal to no one, the only thing they care about is the all mighty dollar.

Don't look to the government to take any action to save American jobs. Most of our elected officials, Democrat and Republican have been bought and paid for by the companies that have moved their factories off shore. It is up to each and every one of us to take action to save American jobs. STOP BUYING FOREIGN MADE PRODUCTS. You might have to pay a little more for products made in the United States but just look at it as an investment in the future of our country.

God Bless America, God Save The Republic.