The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has strongly criticized China’s non-market trade practices in the textiles and apparel sector, linking them to the closure of 28 U.S. manufacturing plants over the past 22 months.
In a statement marking National Textile Day, the USTR highlighted how China’s policies have given its manufacturers an unfair competitive edge, allowing them to undercut global prices and flood international markets with artificially cheap products.
“In honor of National Textile Day, USTR is calling out the unfair trade practices undercutting the American textiles and apparel sector,” the agency posted on social media platform X. “China’s non-market policies enable domestic manufacturers to charge artificially low prices, impacting U.S. producers significantly.”
In 2024 alone, the U.S. imported $79.3 billion worth of apparel, with 21% originating from China. The USTR also flagged concerns about Chinese e-commerce companies, stating they account for over 30% of all daily de minimis shipments, allowing them to bypass tariffs and evade enforcement mechanisms, which further harms local textile industries, especially in the Southeastern United States.
Trade statistics show a growing imbalance: the U.S. goods trade deficit with China in 2024 climbed to $295.4 billion, up 5.8% from the previous year. U.S. imports from China rose by 2.8%, while exports declined by 2.9%.
The USTR’s warning underscores increasing U.S. concerns about economic dependency and the erosion of domestic manufacturing in the face of China’s aggressive trade strategies.