If the United States withdraws from the Transpacific Agreement, there will be less risk of competition from Asian countries for the Central American textile industry.

If the US does eventually abandon the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), as promised by President-elect Donald Trump, the Central American textile industry could benefit from the elimination of the possibility that the US, its main market, will buy textiles from Vietnam at lower prices. Since the start of negotiations for the TPP, the Central American textile industry has tried to negotiate bilaterally with the US in order to minimize the negative effects that the TPP could have on the industry in the region.

See also: “Textiles and Supplies Market in Central America“

Enrique Lacs, Vice Minister of Foreign Trade in Guatemala, told Prensalibre.com that “… the fact that EE. UU. may choose not to enter the TPP eliminates a risk, since various products from our countries could have been impacted. In the case of Guatemala, in 2014, sales for US $1.51 billion, accounted for 14% of national exports, while in 2015 the figure was US $1.5754 billion, equivalent to 15% of GDP in Guatemala.”