Trade war escalates how will textile and apparel industry fare POLYESTER STAPLE FIBER

On May 9, 2019, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) published a Federal Register notice increasing the duty rate on the third tranche (List 3) of Section 301 tariffs for Chinese imports worth approximately USD 200 billion from 10% to 25%. According to statistics, there are more than 900 HS codes in the tariff list and 927 textile products were also included, covering all products in HS-code heading 50-60 which covers all yarns and fabrics made of various raw materials like cotton, wool, silk, hemp, and chemical fibers, , as well as textiles for industry and some textile machinery products. Exports amount to US was around 4 billion USD. But apparels and most home textiles are excluded.

On May 13, Office of U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced that it had officially initiated legal procedures to impose tariffs on USD 300 million worth of Chinese imports. It will hold a public hearing on Jun 17 and seek advice within the next week, which means that additional tariff on USD 300 billion worth of Chinese imports will impose as early as Jun 24. The remaining covers apparel products in HS-code heading 61-63. So what are impacts of Sino-US trade war on Sino-US apparel trade?

As for export product structure, apparel and textiles accounted for 57% and 43% respectively in 2018 China textile and apparel exports. Compared with that in 2017, it was easy to find that China apparel exports decreased while textile exports increased.