California Apparel News

The United States trade war with China heated up this week when the Trump administration said that the U.S. would place a 10 percent tariff on an additional $300 billion worth of Chinese imports.

The trade war jolted markets when it started in 2018 and remains controversial for businesses affected by it.

“Tariffs are taxes on American consumers. The president’s decision to proceed with adding these additional costs for hardworking American families is truly shocking,” said Rick Helfenbein, president and chief executive officerof the American Apparel & Footwear Association in a press release. “This decision will increase the tariff bill on all clothes, shoes and home textiles like blankets and sheets—products that already account for the vast majority of the duties collected by the U.S. government.”

The National Council of Textile Organizations applauded the Trump administration’s new tariff, said Kim Glas, the NCTO president and chief executive officer.

“China’s rampant abuse of intellectual-property rights and IP theft has gone on far too long at the direct expense of the U.S. textile industry and its supply chain, resulting in the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs in this critical sector,” Glas said in a statement.

Glas also saw opportunity in the tariff announcement. “We believe this move will lead to more re-shoring of production to the United States and the Western Hemisphere production platform and will also address and mitigate China’s rampant trade distortions,” Glas said.