China/USA: US imports of Chinese apparel & textile decline by 27% as buyers shift orders to countries with lower tariffs
"US imports of Chinese textiles and clothing slump by 27%", 16 December 2025
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...
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.
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...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.
The European Union...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...