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Taiwan::Tax free garment exports from 15 Asia-Pacific nations mooted by US Govt |
2005-3-11
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Faced with the flood of export from mainland Chinese textile and garment makers, the U S Congress plans put in place a law titled ''Trade Relief Assistance for Developing Economies'' (TRADE) which accords tax preferences to some 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific area for their exports of garments and other textile products to the U.S.
Countries featuring in the list include Tsunami affected countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Kiribati, Laos, Maldives, Nepal, Samoa, Solomon Islands, East Timor, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Yemen, and Sri Lanka.
As per the new law, garments exported from the above countries will be exempt from import tariff subject to their fabrication from U.S.-made yarns. Also those not using US yarn will be eligible for zero import duty if they are no more than11 percent of the total U.S. garment imports, effective this year. From the year, on the quota percentage will be increased by 0.3 percent per year to 14 percent in 2014.
Sources says not all the 15 countries may get this easy access to the US markets but they do expect Bangladesh, Cambodia, Bhutan, and Laos to be the countries in the first batch passing the threshold of the law.
If the above proposed law comes in to effect, then a few leading Taiwanese garment makers who operate from Cambodia, will definitely increase production lines there.
The news has already spurred Taiwanese owned companies of Cambodia like Tainan Enterprise Co. and Makalot Industrial Co., both leading garment makers in Taiwan to expand their production capacities.
It is believed that the TRADE law might dampen the overheated investments in China by Taiwan''s garment makers and, on the other hand, it might encourage them to speed up diversifying operations to Cambodia. |
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