Two-way-trade turnover in 2013 may reach about US$28.7 billion (up 15.3%), with Vietnam’s exports raking in about US$23.7 billion (up 16.7%), and imports about US$5.0 billion (up 8.7%), according to the US Department of Commerce (DOC).

Most noticeably, US imports of apparel from Vietnam may reach US$8.5 billion, a double-digit increase (10.4%) over the US$7.7 billion in 2012. In addition, Vietnam’s exports of higher-value-added products from “modern manufacturing” FDI are increasing sharply.

Vietnamese exports of textiles and apparel account for about 36% of the country’s total exports to the US.

“Overall apparel import growth used to come from China and Bangladesh, but today Vietnam is the main driver. I don’t think you will see that trend abate in the short term,” said Nate Herman, Vice President of International Trade, American Apparel & Footwear Association. 

Vietnam posted the largest increase in textiles and apparel imports to the US in September compared with a year earlier, as it continued to take business away from other Asian countries such as Indonesia, while Bangladesh showed signs of a slowdown in production, a report from the DOC showed.

Vietnam is projected to have the strongest growth, and to reach US$16.4 billion by 2025. The projections are based only on the assumption that present trends will continue, and do not include the expected impact of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement.

One estimate projects Vietnam’s apparel exports to the US under TPP would be as high as US$22 billion by 2020 and another projects that Vietnam’s apparel and footwear exports will increase by 45.7% by 2025.