Donald Trump’s new tariffs have not curbed US textile and apparel imports, which held steady at $80.5 billion over the first three quarters. While China, the country’s leading supplier, saw shipments fall by 27% over the period, buyers simply shifted their orders to other Asian countries.
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The publication of these figures was delayed until December by the “shutdown,” which saw the US federal government shut down amid bitter budget negotiations. The consequences of the all-out tariff stand-off launched by the White House in April were widely anticipated; they can now be quantified.
China, the trade adversary singled out by Donald Trump, exported “only” $14.3 billion of textiles and apparel to the US market over nine months. This represents a 27% decline over the January to September period, yet China remains the US’s leading supplier.
Above all, China’s decline masks an acceleration in US orders from its direct competitors. Imports of textiles and apparel from South-East Asia rose by 15.9% to $24.3 billion.
A reshaping of US sourcing
Donald Trump sought to curb the influx of foreign production. In the end, the US president merely succeeded in shifting its origin slightly. To offset the new tariffs, US buyers turned to other countries that were sometimes less heavily taxed and, above all, offered lower production costs.
Vietnam, the US’s second-largest supplier of textiles and apparel, posted a 14.6% increase. In the ranking of suppliers, Vietnam is followed by India, up 10%, and, above all, Bangladesh, with a surge of 18.2%. Strong gains were also recorded by Cambodia (+25.8%), Indonesia (+12.9%), and Pakistan (+9.3%).
Imports from the USMCA area (US, Mexico, and Canada), where political tensions were high, remained broadly stable (-0.9%) at $3.8 billion, of which $3 billion came from Mexican production.
Europe holds steady
The European Union, the seventh-largest supplier of textiles and apparel to the US, posted a modest 1.9% increase to $4.04 billion worth of goods. This is a notable improvement on the 2.6% decline recorded in 2024.
Italy, at $1.9 billion, was stable over nine months, as was Portugal at $469 million. Germany accelerated by 9.3% to $373 million, while France rose by 2.2% to $330 million.
In the Euromed region, US customs figures show a 6.6% drop for Turkish goods, to $1.7 billion. Egypt was up 16.4% to $1.1 billion, while Morocco was down 16% to $177 million and Tunisia up 8.2% to $81 million.
Trends that began in January
This slowdown is all the more evident in light of the figures recorded in 2024. At that time, China exported $26 billion worth of textiles and apparel to the US, an increase of 3.5% that exceeded the total growth of American imports in this field (+2.6%).
After the election of Donald Trump and ahead of “Liberation Day”, the April 2 event marking the announcement of new tariffs, panic gripped US buyers. In the first quarter, they suddenly accelerated their textiles and apparel imports by 9.4% compared with the January to March 2024 period.
China captured only 3.6% of this increase, whereas other countries less targeted by Washington benefited far more from the situation. These included Vietnam (+14%), India (+20%), Bangladesh (+25%), Indonesia (+20%), Cambodia (+15.8%), and Pakistan (+10.5%).
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