"Trump’s tariffs may be perilous for small, heavily indebted countries in global south", 6 April 2025

Garment workers in countries such as Cambodia among those who fear they will lose pay cheques if companies move production elsewhere.

“This is very messed up. If Trump wants Cambodia to import more American goods: look, we are just a very small country!”

Khun Tharo works to promote human rights in the Cambodian garment sector, which employs about 1 million people – many of them women.

“I think they are very concerned about their jobs, and I think they are very concerned about their monthly pay cheque. And that has significant effects on the livelihoods of their dependent family,” says Tharo, programme manager at the Centre for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights (CENTRAL), a Cambodian workers’ rights organisation.

One of the most wilfully destructive aspects of Donald Trump’s shock and awe trade policy is the imposition of punitive tariffs on developing countries across Asia, including rates of 49% for Cambodia, 37% for Bangladesh, 48% for Laos…

… Most of the hardest-hit countries can already trade tariff-free with major markets under projects such as the EU’s Everything But Arms programme and the UK’s Developing Countries Trading Scheme, which are designed to help the poorest nations to develop through trade…

Back in Cambodia, Tharo says: “The industry right now seems to be in a little bit of a hectic situation. The government is also extremely worried because they are not seeing any alternative markets at the moment. And we don’t have significant goods to be exported to any other country…