From the changes of the global textile industry, we can see that political relations, technological development and labor costs have played a very important role in the transfer of the industry.
The rhythm of the transfer of the textile industry has accelerated significantly in recent times, and the technological barriers of the textile industry are getting lower and lower. It is increasingly difficult for a country or region to maintain its long-term leading position in the textile industry, the role of technological barriers is weakening, and the role of cost and geopolitics is increasing.
Although China's textile and apparel exports are currently the world's well-deserved leader, we see that the peak has been reached near 2015. In 2020, due to the epidemic, China regained some market share. However, based on the consideration of labor costs, the direction of the transfer of textile and apparel supply chains in Europe and the United States will not change, and the textile industry's "southeast flight" is still a medium and long-term trend.
The Sino-US trade war started in 2018, and the pace of globalization has slowed down. In addition to suppressing China's high-tech industries, the United States has increased tariffs on Chinese products and restricted exports. Among them, textiles and clothing have become a key "care" industry, forcing China's textile industry to open up new markets. This is also one of the important reasons why China strongly promotes RCEP.
After the RCEP agreement comes into effect, China's textile and apparel tariffs on Japan and South Korea will be greatly reduced, which will first squeeze Vietnam's markets in the two places. Vietnam's textile industry has developed rapidly in the past ten years. First of all, it took advantage of the labor cost advantage to undertake China's industrial transfer. Subsequently, it actively developed the markets of Europe, America, Japan and South Korea and launched competition with China. After the Sino-US trade war, the probability that US textile and apparel orders will continue to tilt towards Vietnam increases.
The largest consumer market for textiles and clothing in the world is still traditional developed countries such as Europe and the United States. The reduction and clearance of tariffs in the RCEP region is just a re-division of the "stock market" cake.
If the trade agreement between RCEP member countries can promote the further improvement and development of the regional economy and the further optimization of the industrial chain, it will undoubtedly bring new increments to the textile industry. ”, and there is also win-win cooperation.