textile

According to GTRI, the most significant impact of the tariffs has been felt by labour-heavy sectors such as textiles, gems and jewellery, engineering goods, and chemicals, which have suffered the heaviest losses.

But there's also a huge -- if largely unrealised -- potential for their use in bioplastics and biofuels, as well as cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and textiles, thanks to their starch.

But it has also made it hard for domestic textile firms to get off the ground.

These fortunes underpinned the first large-scale mechanized textile production, completely replacing household production for the first time in U.S. history.

“Everybody says ‘yes, yes, yes,’ but then nothing happens,” said Georges Sassine, a veteran Haitian textile executive.