Trump tariffs hit India's garment makers as US buyers ask them to move production

Employees at a garment manufacturing facility work on clothes in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. The prospect of exporters shifting production outside India would be a blow to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make in India" policy drive. - AP

MUMBAI/CHENNAI: Ever since Donald Trump's tariff salvo on India this week, garment maker Pearl Global - whose US client list includes Gap and Kohl's - has been receiving midnight panic calls with an ultimatum: share the tariff hit or move production out of India.

To calm US customers' nerves, Pearl Global has offered to shift production to its 17 factories in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam and Guatemala to bypass the steep US levies on Indian imports.