Fig 4: USA Apparel Imports by Source and Risk Level

2002 2005 (by US $ million)

Calculations based on data from the US;

Department of Commerce OTEXA Office

Notes: Trade Associations used in Fig 4 are as below (Ref 10)

NAFTA = North American Free Trade Association; (Canada; USA; Mexico)

SSA = Sub Saharan Africa (about 50 nations)

BBI = Caribbean Basin Initiative

Basically, these all represent efforts by the US government to ameliorate the impact of MFA and WTO quota and tariff charges. The intent is to permit US businesses to relocate labour intensive operations to (relatively) lower cost countries, and than have the goods re-imported to the US under certain rules of origin.

2.5.11 Indias Competitors

Indias exports fall into the low risk category because of its well developed domestic textile industry.

Despite this, Indias exports do face serious competition from the following countries :

• China
• Bangladesh
• Pakistan
• Sri Lanka