From the Sector

National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) President and CEO Kim Glas sent a letter House leaders urging them to oppose and block the Secure Revenue Clearance Channel Act, a bill that would essentially reopen a dangerous trade loophole and ultimately harm U.S. textile manufacturers.

“Last year through bipartisan action, Congress voted overwhelmingly to end de minimis after identifying the substantial harms it perpetrated,” Glas states in the letter to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (D-LA) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). “The House China Select Committee determined in 2023 that Chinese e-commerce platforms were flooding the U.S. with billions of dollars’ worth of goods but had paid $0 in import duties, while American companies comparatively spent millions. Additionally, these platforms were found lacking in due diligence mechanisms to verify that products were not tainted by forced labor in China.”

Last year, Congress passed bipartisan legislation codifying the end of de minimis, effective July 2027. The Trump administration also took action to close de minimis to all commercial shipments globally through executive order, which took effect at the end of August 2025.

“As a result, the volume of small package deliveries has dramatically decreased, duty collections are up, and American consumers and workers are better off,” the letter states.

“Despite clear action from Congress and the administration on the negative impact of express shipment programs for ‘small value’ packages at U.S. ports, some still want to provide duty relief to foreign importers while requiring less information on packages valued at up to $600 — making enforcement impossible and rewarding offshore producers,” the letter continues. “De minimis was labeled ‘China’s backdoor to the U.S.,’ facilitated by an environment where goods were cleared on manifest, packages were not properly inspected or levied duties, and the risk posed was extremely high. The Secure Revenue Clearance Channel Act would recreate many of these same problems, with China being the biggest winner.”

EURATEX, representing the European textile and fashion industry, joins the Antwerp Declaration Community’s call on EU Heads of State and Government to adopt emergency measures that restore industrial competitiveness and deliver tangible results for Europe’s manufacturing base in 2026.

The call was made at the European Industry Summit, which brought together over 500 business leaders, 30 factory workers, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, under the auspices of Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever. Senior EU leaders including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker, as well as Executive Vice-Presidents Teresa Ribera and Stéphane Séjourné, and Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, also joined the discussions — underscoring the growing political urgency of Europe’s industrial competitiveness crisis.

The European Industry Summit urged a coordinated package focused on:

• Reducing energy and carbon costs to restore competitiveness; 
• Ensuring fair competition through strong trade instruments and enforcement; 
• Boosting demand for EU-made products, including via public procurement and transparency tools that empower buyers. 

With 200,000 companies and 1.3 million workers, Europe’s textile and fashion ecosystem produces not only apparel, but also technical textiles for medical, automotive and defence applications. Yet the sector is facing mounting pressure from high energy costs and millions of non-compliant, low-quality products entering the EU market via online platforms, undermining responsible manufacturers and accelerating closures across Member States. 

During his speech, EURATEX President Mario Jorge Machado underlined that Europe must move from announcements to delivery — with measures that directly strengthen demand for sustainable, high-quality products made in Europe, while ensuring imported products comply with EU rules. 

“Europe must regain confidence and pride in what it produces, and stimulate demand for high-quality and sustainable textiles made in Europe. This requires three concrete actions: public procurement that goes beyond price and reflects origin, sustainability and security for strategic textiles; increased transparency, feasible for SMEs; and effective market surveillance to stop non-compliant imports from dominating the market” affirmed the President.

The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO), which represents the full U.S. textile supply chain from fiber and yarn to fabrics and finished sewn products, welcomed the announcement of a reciprocal trade agreement between the United States and Guatemala.

National Council of Textile Organizations President and CEO Kim Glas:
“The reciprocal trade agreement with Guatemala marks an important step toward strengthening the U.S. textile supply chain. We commend the administration for taking decisive action to remove reciprocal tariffs and provide preferential treatment to qualifying textile and apparel products from Guatemala under the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR).

“NCTO and the broader U.S. textile industry are grateful to President Trump, U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer, and the administration for concluding this agreement with Guatemala, following on the heels of the recently announced agreement with El Salvador.

“Guatemala is a key partner in the CAFTA-DR region, with $2 billion in two-way textile and apparel trade. Together, the region operates as an integrated co-production platform that is essential to the U.S. textile supply chain. In 2024, this production network generated $11.3 billion in two-way trade and supported more than 470,000 American jobs in the domestic textile industry alone.

“The U.S.–Western Hemisphere textile and apparel supply chain remains a critical strategic alternative to China and other Asian producers. We look forward to continued collaboration with the Trump administration to further solidify this vital regional partnership and appreciate this important announcement.”

The 38th International Cotton Conference Bremen will take place from 25 to 27 March 2026 at the Bremen Parliament. The program will focus on technical innovations, market trends, and regulatory frameworks across the entire value chain – from agriculture to the circular economy. As well on the focus of high-profile speakers: Cotton quality and testing methods 

Raw cotton from different areas of production varies considerably in terms of fibre properties, thus directly influencing how well cotton can be spun into yarn and how textiles behave in further processing. Innovative testing methods enable assessing each bale reliably and reproducibly according to defined quality parameters. The aim is to make cotton qualities comparable, as this is a key prerequisite for global trade, pricing and reliable supply chains. Quality and quality testing are the historical focus of the Bremen conference. 

Real comparability on focus 
Various methods for testing cotton include High Volume Instrument Testing (such as Uster HVI) as a common method for instrumental cotton classification for price deter-mination and bale composition; Uster AFIS for testing the length, fineness, neps, etc. of individual fibres and the Mesdan Contest as a thermomechanical method for deter-mining the tendency of cotton to stick together. 

Mourad Krifa from Kent State University (USA) has been conducting research in the characterisation of cotton fibres for decades, focusing on length distribution. In his presentation he will introduce reliable statistical and software-based tools that help cotton growers, biotechnologists and processors to better analyse and utilise fibre distributions. 

Dr Müge Ekizoğlu, İzmir Commodity Exchange (ICE), is going to present the certified storage and classification system for Turkish cotton based on instrumental classification using High Volume Instruments. As one of the leading cotton-growing and producing countries, objective quality assessment for export and international standards is crucial for the Türkiye. 

Deninson Lima, ABRAPA Brazil, will present the results of a study on the measurement uncertainties determined for HVI devices used in Brazil. Based on the GUM standard, significant sources of uncertainty such as instrument design, environmental conditions, sample preparation and operator influence were analysed. The study quantified three repeatability, reproducibility and possible distortions and emphasises the importance of regular calibrations, quality controls and systematic uncertainty budgeting. 

Gabriele Salvinelli, Mesdan, Italy, will present the Contest S series testing equipment. These super automated systems measure the stickiness of raw cotton, which can mess up spinning machines and may lead to higher maintenance effort as well as lower quality. Since standardised environmental conditions are often not fully complied with in practice, the study examines the extended humidity range in which reliable measurement results are possible and provides users with practical recommendations.

The International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) will hold its 83rd Plenary Meeting on 23–24 March 2026 at the Parliament building in Bremen. The meeting will take place immediately ahead of the 38th International Cotton Conference Bremen (25–27 March 2026) and marks a historic premiere: for the first time, the ICAC Plenary will be hosted in close cooperation with the Bremen Cotton Ex-change and the Faserinstitut Bremen e.V. (FIBRE). 

The ICAC is a government-level association headquartered in Washington, DC. Its member countries produce, process, or trade cotton. The ICAC Plenary Meeting will be held under the motto “Uniting the Cotton and Textiles Value Chain for a Sustainable Future” and highlights the organization’s commitment to supporting its member gov-ernments and advancing sustainability, innovation, and economic prosperity across the entire cotton and textile value chain—from seed to retail.

“Hosting our 83rd Plenary Meeting at Bremen’s Parliament House marks a first-ever, historic collaboration between ICAC and the Bremen Cotton Exchange,” said Eric Trachtenberg, Executive Director of ICAC. “For decades, our organizations have worked together to benefit the global cotton and textile industry, and this joint week of programming promises to be a can’t-miss event for professionals from every segment of the value chain. We are thrilled to connect high-level government delegates with the technical and commercial expertise that Bremen’s conference delivers so success-fully.”

Fritz Grobien, President of the Bremen Cotton Exchange, said, “We are very pleased to welcome the ICAC to Bremen as a government-level organization. The ICAC, the Bremen Cotton Exchange, and the Fibre Institute Bremen are three institutions in the global cotton industry that represent the topic of cotton in different ways and at the highest level. Therefore, I am even more delighted to have the ICAC Plenary as a valuable contributor at the beginning of our own conference.”

The International Cotton Conference Bremen is known for addressing topics such as cotton cultivation, quality assessment, textile processing, innovative cotton products, and the interconnected textile value chain.

The Bremen Cotton Exchange, FIBRE, and the ICAC are looking forward to welcoming delegates from government, industry, and research to Bremen in March 2026.