Little relief to textile exporters

Indian textile and leather goods exporters see the 90-day tariff relief as an opportunity to clear their backlogs at lower duties, but don’t expect a significant boost in export orders. According to industry insiders, US buyers remain in a ‘wait-and-watch’ mode amid subdued demand and uncertainty over Washington’s ongoing trade negotiations with other countries. “Recent developments bring some relief, and ongoing order dispatch issues may begin to ease,” said Prabhu Dhamodharan, convenor of the Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF), a Coimbatore-based association that represents the entire textile value chain, including standalone spinning units, weaving companies, and exporters of apparel and home textiles. However, he noted that consumption continues to be under pressure, as the average landed tariff on consumer goods— including textiles—into the US exceeds 20%. This includes a baseline 10% tariff on all countries and over 100% on Chinese imports. “Normally, in uncertain times like this, retailers are very cautious with order placements. It all depends on actual retail sales. We’ll still have to wait and watch,” he added. On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump paused the implementation of reciprocal tariffs for 90 days for all countries except China, which now faces a 104% tariff. However, the baseline 10% duty that came into effect on April 5 remains in place across the board.