Abstract
The United States is the most important textile import market in the world, and one of the most important export targets of developing countries. In view of its ecological environment and consumer health, the United States has put forward increasingly harsh environmental protection systems and standards for imported textile products, and its environmental trade barriers have been steadily strengthened. China’s textile exports increased substantially after joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2000; at present, the textile imports of the United States from China and India reach in total more than one third of all their imports. China and India both have comparative advantages in the import trade of textile raw materials and clothing in the United States (U.S.). On the basis of the United Nation ComTrade Rev. 3, this paper studies the role of China and India in the United States textile market, including calculating the trade competitiveness index, revealing the competitive advantages of China and India, and investigating the impact of both Chinese and Indian textiles on United States imports from the rest of the world across three main textile sectors in the period 2000–2016, especially in the context of green trade barriers. We find that the relative textile import prices, the ecological standard of China’s textile production re-edited Oeko-Tex Standard 100 in 2008 and export tax policy, and the competitive advantages of China and India had varied impacts on relative U.S. textile imports across related sectors under green environmental trade barriers. These findings recognize China’s competitiveness in international trading, and also provide suggestions regarding China’s competitiveness and sustainable development in the U.S. market.
Highlights
When the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing was reached in the Uruguay Round of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations on 31 December 2004, quotas on global trade in textile raw materials and clothing became history
When we inspect the new standards of Oeko-Tex Standard 100 as re-edited in 2008, we find that the impact of the standards on the global imports of the United States related to China and India was not obviously significant
Against the background of the substantial increase of Chinese textile exports after China’s entry to the Word Trade Organization (WTO) in 2000, we investigate the United States’ global imports in textile fabrics, textile yarn, and clothing products in relation to two major developing countries, China and India
Summary
When the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing was reached in the Uruguay Round of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations on 31 December 2004, quotas on global trade in textile raw materials and clothing became history. China and India’s share in textile fabrics is not as great as the share of textile yarn and clothing (Table 2), Table 4 shows that the revealed comparative advantages (RCA) of China’s textile fabrics (SITC 26) increased in the U.S market, and were slightly higher than those of India. We observe that the RCAs of some textiles with strong Chinese and Indian features, such as textile yarn, woven cotton fabrics, and embroidery were all less than one, and not as strong as we might have expected This finding implies that these products from China and India may not have been satisfactory given the barrier of ecological standards in the U.S market. In addition to the changes in the international economic and financial environment, the consumer market exerts an impact on China’s textile exports, and green trade barriers and the trend of green consumption altogether amount to a major challenge to the sustainable and stable development of China’s textile exports
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