Finished apparel, home furnishings and other made-up textile goods make up 93.5 per cent of US imports from China in the apparel sector. Fiber, yarn and fabric imports from China into the US represent only 6.5 per cent of the apparel sector.

Given that apparel and other sewn products made in China almost always contain Chinese inputs, a significantly greater value of fibers, yarns and fabrics made in China enter the US market in the form of Chinese-made downstream finished products than at the input stage.

Most of China’s 10 million direct textile and apparel jobs are concentrated at the final steps of the supply chain, the highly labor-intensive cutting and sewing operations. China predominantly ships end items versus intermediate inputs. End item imports most directly and negatively impact US textile and apparel production, investment and jobs.

China’s apparel and other textile-based end items compete head to head with western hemisphere products that typically are made from US fibers, yarns and fabrics. By the time a pair of Chinese blue jeans arrives in the US market, they are in a position to displace other products in the market. The US textile industry would be negatively impacted by additional tariffs of 10 per cent or up to 25 per cent on product from China.