Media Alert: ACT Statement on Liberation Day Tariffs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 3, 2025
American Circular Textiles Applauds Closing De Minimis+Encourages Complementary Onshoring Policy Measures
American Circular Textiles, the premier national coalition bridging the private sector and lawmakers around circularity in textiles, applauds the Trump Administration’s closing of the De Minimus loophole as part of “Liberation Day.” The De Minimis trade exemption has allowed millions of dollars in cheap, poorly made fashion to flood into our country, undermining American manufacturers and American labor while harming our environment.
To be truly effective, we encourage the Trump Administration to explore ways to reinvest funds collected from these tariffs into incentives for reshoring, onshoring, and rebuilding a robust textile manufacturing economy here in the United States. We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to build the infrastructure of this new circular manufacturing industry, one where secondhand, resale, rental, repair and recycling can give quality items new lives, and turn the United States’s immense feedstock of textile waste into lasting new products.
As the Trump Administration provides additional clarity on these new tariffs and implementation, the changes to De Minimis should be clear that secondhand products are not subject to these new levies. While the Administration explores new economic tools to restore America’s manufacturing prowess, heightened attention should be placed on the supply chain for raw materials for domestic apparel manufacturers impacted by these tariffs. Unfortunately, sufficient options for critical components, like buttons or cotton shirting simply do not exist in the United States. To thoroughly support the rebirth of American fashion manufacturing, we must support the manufacturers as well, with both carrots and sticks.
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About American Circular Textiles:
American Circular Textiles (ACT) is a first-of-its-kind coalition of over 30 organizations aimed at developing and supporting circular textile policy opportunities that will incentivize sustainable manufacturing jobs, maximize resource allocation, educate consumers, and protect our supply chains and environment. ACT represents a new sector and business model that transitions from a linear “take make waste” business model, to one focused on growth through the reuse and recycling of our limited planetary resources. ACT membership includes some of the leading organizations driving textile circularity in the United States through facilitating reuse, recycling, rental, repair, technology and innovation.
Contact: Kelly Vogt Campbell
Head of Communications