At least one sector is happy about Trump’s tariffs: textiles
US textile companies say tariffs with help level the playing field and have little sympathy for companies railing against starting a trade war with China
New York — While there’s no shortage of doom and gloom coming from corporate America about President Donald Trump’s trade war with China, there is at least one US industry cheering him on: textiles. After decades of shedding thousands of jobs and closing factories as the US opened up trade with China and other countries, textiles stabilised in recent years. And just as the sector was trying to invigorate growth, along came a presidential candidate pledging to revive American manufacturing. The industry immediately saw Trump’s election as the best chance in a generation to re-orient US trade policy. And so far he hasn’t disappointed. The president withdrew America from negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal in his first week on the job. Now he’s enacted tariffs on $36bn worth of Chinese-made goods, including some textiles, and wants to push that to $250bn. But the industry wants more. Textiles — like fabrics and yarns — are the materials used to make everythin...
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