On April 7, 2025, the China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC) issued a public statement firmly opposing the US's proposed new round of tariffs on Chinese textiles. This is not a routine diplomatic gesture but a clear industry warning: China's textile sector faces the most concentrated external policy pressure since the 2018 trade friction.
According to publicly available data from China's General Administration of Customs, total textile and apparel exports in 2024 reached $301.06 billion, down 3.2% year-on-year. Exports to the US fell by 8.7%, far exceeding the overall decline. This indicates narrowing demand elasticity for Chinese textiles in the US market, and new tariffs would further squeeze already thin industry margins.
Background
The proposed US tariffs target cotton woven garments, synthetic fiber knitted garments, and some home textile products, covering approximately 65% of Chinese textile exports to the US. The CNTAC statement emphasized that this approach seriously violates WTO rules and could trigger a chain reaction across global supply chains.
From an industrial cluster perspective, regions with high export dependence—such as Shengze in Jiangsu, Keqiao in Zhejiang, and Dongguan in Guangdong—will be hardest hit. A foreign trade manager at a medium-sized fabric company in Shengze revealed that US orders now account for only 15% of its total exports, but profit margins have dropped from 8% in 2019 to 3.5% in Q1 2025. A further 10-percentage-point tariff increase could force the company out of the US market entirely.
Industry Impact
The tariff shockwave is transmitting from exports to raw materials. Inventory cycles for upstream segments like chemical fibers and cotton yarn have stretched from the normal 30 days to 45 days, with clear price pressure. In Q1 2025, domestic polyester staple fiber prices fell 4.2% year-on-year, and pure cotton yarn prices dropped 3.8%.
For buyers, this means two judgments: first, the price advantage of Chinese textiles is being eroded by policy risk, making single-source procurement no longer safe; second, the ramp-up speed of Southeast Asian alternative capacity will determine the bargaining landscape over the next two years. Vietnam and Bangladesh saw textile export growth of 6.5% and 8.1% respectively in 2024, partly from orders shifted from China, but quality and delivery stability remain questionable.