If the deal takes effect, clothes and, eventually, shoes made abroad in TPP countries will become much cheaper to bring into the United States. That’s potentially good news for Nike’s bottom line – it makes shoes in Vietnam than anywhere else – and theoretically for consumers, if companies pass along the savings on import duties..The deal could be particularly good for Vietnam, one of the world’s biggest garment exporters, which trades more with the US than any other country.”.So while some of the biggest fights over TPP have had little to do with the garment industry, the reality is that this piece of the deal could have big ramifications for everyday consumers. It could mean better business for American companies, including textile exporters. And the Obama administration argues it will improve working conditions for workers in countries like Vietnam – but labor and human rights experts don’t necessarily agree.”.1) It’s going to get cheaper to import most clothes from Vietnam and Malaysia”Vietnam exports more clothing than any other country but China, and most of it ends up in the United States: 18 percent of women’s suits, blouses, and shirts imported t the US came from Vietnam in 2013. Nike manufactures 43 percent of all the shoes it makes in Vietnam, a higher share than it makes in China.”.And average tariff, the tax companies must pay to import goods into the US, is higher for clothing than for other products. Right now Nike pays $i.65 for each pair of shoes it imports; tariffs on clothing can be as high as 32 percent, as they are for T-shirts made from man-made fibers such as polyester.”.The TPP will get rid of those tariffs for countries that have agreed to the trade deal. Some will vanish as soon as it goes into effect – women’s skirts and dresses, for example, can be imported for free right away. Others will fade out more slowly, over a longer period of time. The tariff on polyester T-shirts will be reduced by 35 percent from its current level when the agreement goes into effect, but the T-shirts won’t be fully duty-free for 11 more years.”.Many analysts argue that Vietnam stands to benefit most from the trade agreement, in large part due to its garment industry. One forecast suggests the country’s exports could increase as much as 28 percent, as duty-free imports to the US and Japan encourage companies to manufacture their clothes there.”.But a rule defining what has to happen in order for clothing to count as originating in a TPP country could make it more difficult for Vietnamese manufacturers to qualify.”.2) “Clothing” means everything from yarn on up “Negotiating the TPP meant balancing two important parts of the American garment industry against each other” the people who make the cloth versus the people who sell the clothes.”.Where a T-shirt assembles in Vietnam from Chinese cloth made from American cotton is determines to originate determines whether importers have to pay a tariff under the new deal.”.Historically, the default for US trade agreements is a “yarn forward” rule of origin, which means everything from yarn through the final garment has to be made a country that’s part of the trade agreement in order to enter the US without import duties.”.Fashion brands and department stores, interested in cutting the price of manufacturing their products, wanted a looser a rule of origin that counts only where the garment is cut and sewn. That would mean they can buy a cheaper fibers and fabric from China and other countries outside the TPP agreement, assemble the clothes in Vietnam or Malaysia, then import the finished clothing to the US duty-free.”.The American textile industry, on the other hand, wanted a bigger market for its own products, so a rule of origin that started earlier stood to benefit it.”.The TPP ended up with a yarn-forward rule, although there are some exceptions – some temporary and some permanent – for textiles such as cashmere that aren’t generally commercially available in treaty countries.”.Most leading producers – China, the European Union, India, Turkey, Korea, and Pakistan – aren’t part of TPP, and Vietnam gets most of its yarn and textiles from China. In theory, Vietnamese and Malaysian manufacturers will have an incentive to purchase American or Japanese fabric, or develop their own textile industries, in order to avoid import duties in the US. “.But American and Japanese yarns and textiles are more expensive than similar products from China, so it’s possible they’ll decide the savings aren’t worth it and simply buy Chines fabric and keep paying import duties.”.Vietnam also cut a side deal meant to encourage the use of American denim for cotton pants and jeans. The tariff on those items won’t fully disappear for a decade, but Vietnamese-manufactured jeans that use American denim can be imported duty-free right away. In exchange, Vietnamese manufacturers can also use fabric from anywhere and import those clothes duty-free as well.”.Both textile manufacturers and the US retailers ended up endorsing the final agreement. Supporters of both free and better global development have criticized the yarn-forward rule.”.Requiring manufacturers to buy yarn and faric from other countries in the TPP pact could hurt even poorer nations, such as Bangladesh, that aren’t part of the treaty, Kim Elliott, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, said.”.And free trade advocates argue this isn’t free trade at all, but protectionism for an American industry. “Rather than compete on quality and price withe the world’s few textile producers for business of the world’s multitude of apparel producers, the US textile industry has convinced the US government to do its bidding.” wrote Daniel Ikenson, director of the Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, in 2013.”..
Date:11/11/2015
Source:Medafrica Times