Foreign Trade Exports | Surpassing China, Vietnam Becomes the Largest Apparel Supplier to the United States

Since 2024, Vietnam has surpassed China to become the largest apparel supplier to the United States.

According to a report in the Vietnam Communist Party’s electronic newspaper on June 24, the Vietnam Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) reported that in the first five months of 2024, Vietnam’s textile and garment exports reached nearly US$16 billion, a year-on-year increase of 5%.

Vinatex pointed out that this growth was not due to a global demand recovery, but mainly benefited from the transfer of orders from other countries to Vietnam and the favorable exchange rate of the Vietnamese dong’s 5% depreciation against the US dollar. Vinatex General Manager Cao Huu Hieu stated that the outlook for the textile and garment industry in 2024 will be better than in 2023. Vietnamese enterprises have increased investment and are actively seeking export orders from the United States. For example, Vinatex has partnered with the British Coats Group in the first half of this year to produce flame-retardant fabrics, with the first batch of products scheduled for export to the United States in July.

Notably, Vietnam’s garment exports to the United States reached US$6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 4%, making Vietnam the largest apparel supplier to the United States, surpassing China, and ranking among the top three fastest-growing textile and garment exporters globally. However, at the same time, Vietnam imports a large amount of textiles and apparel from China every year. According to data from Chinese customs, in 2023, China’s textile and apparel exports to ASEAN reached US$49.97 billion, an increase of US$17.72 billion compared to 2016. Vietnam accounted for 35.9% of the ASEAN market and 33.0% of the export increase, ranking first in both categories.

This shows that a significant portion of Vietnam’s textile and apparel exports to the United States are imported from China and then re-exported, or that raw materials are exported from China, processed locally, and then exported to the United States.

Furthermore, many garment factories in Vietnam are invested in by Chinese companies. Currently, China has become Vietnam’s largest investor, and foreign-invested enterprises dominate Vietnam’s exports.