I’m Betting on America

I’ve spent the last two days traveling through our Carolina supply chain with President Biden’s USTR Senior Advisors Jamila Thompson and Beth Baltzan. They are interested in seeing first hand what is happening in the American textile supply chain and anyone who knows American Giant, knows this is an issue near and dear to our heart. We have spent the last ten years proving there is a better way to make clothes and it is gratifying to have Washington begin to take notice. It is also encouraging that we have two senior representatives from the current administration getting focused on the opportunities and challenges we face in making things here.

But going on a tour through the Carolinas and actually changing policy are two different things. The rubber will meet the road next month when Ambassador Tai delivers testimony on trade before the Ways and Means and the Senate Finance Committees. I am hopeful she will continue to point out the imbalances in our trade policies that have handcuffed American industry and robbed urban and rural communities of the dignified and durable jobs they deserve. Concrete steps towards unlocking the potential of American industry and the American worker would demonstrate real progress.

Just so you know where I stand, I think jobs matter. I won’t go on a rant, but we have spent too much time over the last 40 years figuring out how to make things cheaper, and not thinking at all about how shipping manufacturing overseas ends up hurting urban and rural communities that depended on those jobs to keep their communities vital and thriving. Cheap products are good. But if they cost us the viable jobs that hold our communities together, they aren’t worth the cost.

Jobs, I think, bring us together. They connect us. Even with people we disagree with. And in this moment of disconnecting (zoom meetings, online dating, delivered packages from Amazon made by people we never see) jobs matter even more. They hold us together, and remind us of our common bonds. They give us purpose and help to heal our differences. We have too many differences these days. We need more connection. And DC has spent too much time shipping jobs overseas in exchange for cheap goods. It turns out that they are expensive….we pay for them with cluttered landfills, closed factories and jobless communities.

If you’ve spent the last couple of decades wondering whether China is a friend or a foe, I hope the last couple of years have put that conversation to rest. in my judgment the Chinese government has made its position quite clear. Over the last 40 years we have opened our markets to China hoping that access to a free, modern, capitalistic system would encourage them to become a benevolent partner on the world stage.

That policy has been an abject failure. China has grown rich and powerful while at the same time becoming a much more intractable foe. Recent decisions indicate that China is uninterested in changing, blocking investigations into the origin of the Covid pandemic, silently aiding the Russian invasion of Ukraine and supporting Iran’s worst instincts are just the most recent examples.

I am not a Policy expert, and I don’t have a PhD in economics, but I know what a bad deal looks like. And our trade relationship with China is bad. Today we grant China unfettered access to the American market, the most valuable and coveted in the world, essentially for free. They do not return the favor.

If my company, American Giant, which makes our products entirely in the United States using American cotton and American hands from start to finish wanted to sell our products in China we would be hit with expensive tariffs and duties. We do not do the same to our counterparts importing clothing from China.

We hold our domestic manufacturers to high standards (Good! We Should!), requiring they meet minimum wage laws, comply with worker safety standards, and adhere to environmental protections.

Those standards are not in place in China. That means our politicians who like to talk about important social issues like jobs, safe workspaces, global warming, minority rights protections and more, support policies that ignore those objectives. Not only is that morally disingenuous, it is bad for Americans that want good paying, dignified jobs in places communities that need them.

When politicians posture about values that purportedly matter to them, while striking trade deals that undermine those values people begin to believe that our bureaucrats and elected officials in DC are not working for them. I believe good jobs matter. I founded American Giant for that reason. And I believe that the legislators in Washington owe the men and women in our working communities a fair shake. It is time for Ambassador Tai and the Biden administration to put their rhetoric to work. Among the things that need to change:

·       Fair Trade not “Free Trade”. Tariffs matter. Equalize the playing field and let American workers truly compete. If we believe in strong worker protections, high environmental standards and minority rights, require that companies that want access to our market meet the same standards.

·       Talk About Xinjiang Human Rights Abuses. China is actively engaged in human rights abuses in Xinjiang province as we speak. Xinjiang is predominantly minority Muslim region in western China where virtually all apparel made in China originates. Women are being sterilized, and workers being forced to work in textiles against their will. Our elected representatives should speak openly and plainly about this what is happening and why slave labor should be banned from the American market.

·       Close the De Minimis Loophole.  We currently allow bad actors like Shein to make clothes under dubious circumstance and come into the US duty free. American companies do not get that luxury when exporting to China creating a fundamental imbalance between the two markets.

·       Make Textiles A Critical Industry – During the early days of the pandemic, American Giant and our friends in the industry stopped making t-shirts and sweatshirts and pivoted to making medical masks. We need a critical capability to be ready for the next pandemic so we don’t have to turn to tshirt manufacturers to keep our doctors, nurses and first responders safe.

Please join me in sharing this as broadly as we can. It is time to start to put partisan politics aside and encourage Ambassador Tai and our elected representatives to put American values and workers first. Our communities need our help and DC needs to hear our voice. If we give American workers the chance to compete fairly with our international competitors, my money is on America every time.