Inglis solicits CAFTA support

ALEXANDER MORRISON, Staff Writer

U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis spent Tuesday afternoon going door-to-door explaining his vote for CAFTA just blocks away from textile magnate Roger Milliken's Converse Heights home.

Milliken, an outspoken opponent of the Central American Free Trade Agreement, was away at meetings while Inglis canvassed his neighborhood for several hours.

Later in the evening, however, Inglis faced a hostile crowd, mostly of textile employees, at a town hall-style meeting at Pine Street Elementary School. Inglis has held a series of community meetings focused on CAFTA over the last week.

CAFTA is a trade treaty allowing free trade between the United States and six Central American nations. It narrowly passed Congress in late July.

Inglis had initially opposed the bill but said that he changed his mind because he believed CAFTA was a small step that would help keep Chinese imports at bay.

Many CAFTA opponents believe it will lead to more foreign competition and the loss of American jobs, especially in the textile industry.

"I don't want to move on from textiles," Inglis was quick to say at Billy Rogers' front door.

Rogers had asked if Inglis thought the industry was a thing of the past in America.

Inglis quickly turned the discussion toward China.

"I'm not too concerned with the Central American countries because they're really little," Inglis said. "I worry about China, I don't really worry about Honduras."

Inglis explained that while Central American factories can often do cutting and sewing operations more cheaply than U.S. based plants, many of the materials they use to assemble garments can be made in America.

Clothing made in China has less than 1 percent American-made inputs, according to government statistics. Clothing made in Central America has about 70 percent U.S. inputs.

More trade with Central America could therefore translate into more American jobs, proponents say.

Inglis, however, soon found himself knocking on the door of Jane Easler, a Milliken & Co. employee.

"We're just very disappointed," she said. "People tend to look at manufacturing as somebody else's job."

Easler was skeptical when Inglis told her of the bill's potential benefits.

"It's a slippery slope," she said of CAFTA.

At the town hall meeting, Inglis answered a barrage of questions -- most of which were laced with a heavy dose of skepticism.

Some expressed doubts about the U.S.'s ability to police the agreement, which uses as-yet unratified side agreements to prevent tariff-free imports of goods made with Chinese materials.

Others worried that American textile makers would move their operations to Central America to take advantage of cheaper labor.

"I don't accept your premise that we can't do it all here," said one man at the meeting.

Inglis had said the current business climate made it very difficult for all parts of a garment to be made in America.

Inglis responded to a similar question, saying that sometimes "you can't have it all your own way. You don't get anything that way."

Alexander Morrison can be reached at 562-7215 or alex.morrison@shj.com.