El Salvador textile sector may lose 22,000 jobs to TPP

23 Feb '13

2 min read

The textile and apparel sector of El Salvador, the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America, may lose around 22,000 jobs in three years, if the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement comes into force, according to experts.

The envisaged agreement, for which 14 rounds of negotiations have already been completed, would enable Vietnamese textiles to enter the US market at zero-tariff. This may hurt Salvadoran textile and garment exports to the US, and result in a loss of about 22,000 direct jobs and another 15,000 indirect jobs in the Salvadoran textile value chain, El Mundo reported quoting representatives of prominent textile and industrial associations.

Across the Central American region, job losses could reach 200,000 if the TPP comes into effect, according to representatives of Salvadoran Association of Industrialists (ASI) and the Chamber of Textile Industry, Clothing and Free Zones of El Salvador (Camtex).

The TPP would allow Vietnam to import textiles from China and then re-export the same to the US, which would mean aggressively competing with China, which has the most subsidized industry in the world, Cass Johnson, president of the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) said.

The 15th round of TPP negotiations are scheduled to be held next month in Singapore.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India