Lenzing Texworld USA Winter 2019 Educational Series
Speaker: Gail Strickler, President of Global Trade Brookfield Associates, LLC & former Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Textiles;
Topics covered:
- The state of trade in textiles and apparel
- Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)—what is now without the United States?
- Latest on the U.S. Section 301 tariff against China
- Updates on free trade agreements and textile and apparel (including USMCA, KORUS, US-EU FTA, CAFTA-DR, and AGOA)
FASH455 Global Apparel & Textile Trade and Sourcing 
I found the Japan and United States conflict to be the most interesting part about the lecture. When the United Stated pulled out of the TTP, it made Japan easier to join. The United States created difficult and tough demands for Japan to be allowed into the TPP. When Trump pulled the United States out of the TPP, it made it much easier for Japan to participate. Japan also decided to make deals with the EU which hinders deals with the United States because anything they wanted from the Americans, they can now get from the EU. This allows Japan to be more difficult with the United States because they do not need as many resources from us. This is why Trumps decision to take the United States of out of the TPP is not favorable.
I agree. We gave up being the leaders on trade and probably won’t be able to manage to gain that again. Raw textiles have been affected by the tariffs and we are already seeing price increases and the China plus countries raising prices looking to adapt and put production in Vietnam. 100 billion of imports comes from apparel.