Companies caught in the crosshairs
14/04/2025
For the 90 days, while individual countries negotiate new trade arrangements with the US, exports from most places will carry only a baseline 10% tariff rate. This compares favourably with rates of, for example, 49% for Cambodia, 46% for Vietnam, 37% for Bangladesh and 36% for Thailand.
At the same time, the US government not only kept high tariffs in place on imports from China, but increased them further, to reach 145% on April 10. China responded by increasing its tariffs on US imports to 125%.
AAFA president, Steve Lamar, said: “While we welcome this limited pause to give negotiators in the US and dozens of trading partners a chance to hammer out sustainable outcomes, it is only a first step in a policy that needs to be more comprehensive, predictable and durable if we want to encourage the kind of investments that will support more US jobs.”
He pointed out that the government’s policies continue to subject imports into the US from the apparel and footwear industry’s largest trading partner, China, to “an unsustainable tax”.
He went on to call the rate for China an “extreme tariff” and said it would lead to higher prices for consumers and higher costs for US manufacturers that rely on materials and components that they can only source from China.
He said companies had been “caught in the crosshairs of a frenzied trade war”.
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