Six congressmen of the US House of Representatives’ Finance and Duty  Committee have expressed their concerns over legality and implementation of the Import Monitoring Programme of Textile and Apparel Products from Vietnam.
In the letter to Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez dated May 2, 2007,six congressmen including Earl Blumenauer, Jim Ramstad, Mike Thompson, Jim Dermott, Joseph Crowley, and Ron Kind wrote: “If we cannot prove the legality of this scheme, such discreminatory measured should be abandoned”.
 
It also wrote, "Congressional passage of Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) for Vietnam was intended to provide benefits for both US businesses and consumers, as well as strengthening the US-Vietnam relationship and provide opportunities for economic growth that would benefit the Vietnamese people. We are deeply concerned that the disruption in trade caused by the import monitoring programme is cutting away at many of the benefits of granting PNTR status to Vietnam. Even more troubling, these negative impacts come at no benefit to US apparel producers.”

The six congressmen also concerned that the programme, in discriminating against imports from Vietnam, could place the US in violation of a number of agreements under the World Trade Organisation.

The letter concluded, “We stand ready to work with the Department to ensure that the US economy receives the full range of benefits from granting PNTR status to Vietnam by limiting the application of the import monitoring programme and ensuring the greatest predictability for US importers, retailers, and consumers”.

Meanwhile, in a letter dated May 11, 2007 to Virginia B. Foote, President of US-Vietnam Trade Council, Stephen Lamar, Executive Vice President of American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) said that AAFA is strongly against the US Department of Commerce's decision to establish a monitoring mechanism for textile and apparel imports from Vietnam.

Mr Stephen Lamar shared that there was little support or interest in this monitoring programme among domestic apparel producers because much of what is produced domestically did not compete against Vietnamese imports.