AAM urges Congress to maintain tariffs and strengthen US trade enforcement

Following US midterm elections that established new congressional leadership, the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) is urging incoming lawmakers to maintain tariffs on critical industries and modernize trade enforcement, arguing that existing remedies are too slow and costly to protect domestic producers.

The organization’s November report, “How Trade Enforcement Strengthens American Manufacturing,” published on Tuesday, calls for faster investigations, stronger action against tariff evasion and policies combining trade protection with long-term manufacturing investment. Written by Dr. Carolina Ferrerosa Young, who served as the chief economic advisor to the Vice President of the United States from October 2023 to January 2025, it examines industries including steel, aluminum, solar and glass, alongside smaller manufacturers. Although not a fashion-sector study, its recommendations address issues relevant to textile and apparel businesses, including customs enforcement, sourcing transparency and access to trade relief.

“At a moment of political transition and debate over the president’s trade agenda, some policymakers may be tempted to roll back enforcement measures simply because of who advanced them,” AAM President Scott Paul writes in the report’s foreword. “That would be a serious mistake. Trade enforcement is not the province of one president or one party. It is a longstanding, bipartisan responsibility, and, as ‘How Trade Enforcement Strengthens American Manufacturing’ shows, an essential tool for American workers, manufacturers, and our economic and national security.”

Paul, who now leads the manufacturing advocacy organization, previously participated in President Donald Trump’s first-term efforts to develop manufacturing policy. In January 2017, he accepted an appointment to Trump’s Manufacturing Jobs Initiative, an advisory group bringing together business and labor representatives. He resigned on August 15, 2017, following Trump’s response to the white nationalist rally and violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

How tariff policy developed

A central finding of the AAM report is that obtaining protection can require resources smaller producers lack. It says manufacturers may spend millions of dollars pursuing antidumping and countervailing duty cases and wait an average of 14 months for duties to be applied. During that period, businesses may cut production, dismiss workers or close facilities.

Antidumping duties address imports sold below normal value, while countervailing duties offset actionable foreign subsidies. The report argues that the expense and evidentiary requirements can make proceedings commercially impractical for small, low-margin manufacturers and businesses without extensive production histories.

AAM backs the proposed Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 Act, which would accelerate certain proceedings, address repeated shifts between production countries and strengthen the ability to investigate cross-border subsidies.

The report also calls for stronger US Customs and Border Protection resources and better supply-chain information to identify undervaluation, misclassification, false origin claims and illegal transshipment. It supports the proposed Fighting Trade Cheats Act, including higher penalties for deliberate customs violations and greater scope for affected domestic industries to challenge fraud.

For fashion businesses, these recommendations intersect with existing industry demands for closer scrutiny of textile imports. In June, the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) endorsed a bipartisan House Textile Caucus letter seeking increased audits, laboratory testing, verification of free trade agreement claims and stronger penalties for repeat offenders.

AAM also argues that trade enforcement must accompany investment and dependable demand. Its case studies describe manufacturing expansion supported by combinations of tariffs, production incentives and commercial purchasing commitments.

Fashion associations differ over the appropriate balance. AAFA has repeatedly sought tariff relief, arguing that stacked duties increase costs and undermine planning; in February it called for a predictable trade policy that reduces the industry’s tariff burden. NCTO, meanwhile, has advocated duties on certain finished textile and apparel imports and stronger customs enforcement, while also seeking exemptions for manufacturing inputs and machinery unavailable domestically and preserving preferential treatment for qualifying regional trade.