Cambodia: Garment and informal workers to be affected due to increased US tariffs; employers' association also expresses concerns over tariffs
"US Tariff Will Impact Cambodian Garment and Informal Workers Harder", 3 April 2025
News of US retaliatory tariffs has sent jitters in the intensive labour and informal sector as experts say it could push them further into poverty, assuming job losses and lower demands occur
Concerns of Cambodian workers in the garment, footwear and travel goods (GFT) and informal sectors have cropped up as fears of them falling deeper into poverty and debt, due to unemployment occur following the imposition of US tariff of 49 percent on Cambodian goods, which is the highest among Asian countries.
GFT industry and union workers are evaluating the impact and looking for solutions at the moment…
Kaing Monika, deputy secretary at Textile, Apparel, Footwear & Travel Goods Association in Cambodia (TAFTAC), told … this morning that it is too early to talk about the impact on Cambodia’s GFT sector.
“Is it concerning? Yes, but again it’s too early to conclude anything. It’s more technical than just the tariff numbers you saw this morning. [H]aving concerns doesn’t solve the problem,” he said…
During the Cambodia Global Textile Summit 2025, Ngov Penghuy, Director and Designated Associate Professor of International Economics Consulting Ltd Cambodia Office, warned that the US tariff will impact the GFT sector due to its dependency on the US market, making it more vulnerable to tariff and trade policy shifts…
Yang Sophorn, President of the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions (CATU), told ... that they are still in negotiation with factories regarding the situation affecting garment workers.
Vorn Pov, President of the Independent Association of Informal Economics, said the US tariff on Cambodian products will hit workers in the GFT industry hard, including informal workers’ livelihood as a whole…