When President Donald Trump announced the list of countries targeted for higher tariffs, one of his stated goals was to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. But with Cambodia facing the highest tariff rates of any nation, business leaders are warning that the apparel and garment industries aren't likely to move their operations out of the Southeast Asian country anytime soon.

If the Trump administration moves forward with its current plans, 49% tariffs against Cambodia will take effect on April 9. According to data from the World Trade Organization, Cambodia exported nearly $10 billion worth of goods to the U.S. in 2024, accounting for roughly 38% of the country's total exports. More than half of U.S. imports from Cambodia were garments, footwear and travel goods, thanks in large part to a 1999 textile trade agreement that gave the U.S. access to the country's low-cost labor, and included provisions to bring Cambodia into compliance with international labor laws. A September 2024 analysis from the U.S. International Trade Commission also described Cambodia as "an attractive alternative to sourcing from China," and praised the country for its "reputation for social responsibility."

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Given that, motivating some of the world's biggest retailers to shift production into the U.S. and out of Cambodia and other highly-tariffed Southeast Asian countries could prove difficult in the end, warns Casey Barnett, the president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia. 

“They’re absolutely not going to go back to the United States,” Barnett told CNBC in an April 8 interview. "I can’t imagine that Americans want to sit down and sew a pair of sweatpants for long hours of the day."

Speaking to Nikkei Asia, Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions president Yang Sophorn predicted that if Trump's tariffs come into force as scheduled, factory owners in Cambodia could slash worker benefits, repeating a strategy that was previously employed during the pandemic to manage costs. That could then force many workers to leave the country altogether to seek new jobs overseas, Sophorn said. 

In an April 5 op-ed for The Geopolitics, activist and former Cambodian Finance Minister Sam Rainsy described Trump's 49% tariff against Cambodia as "the logical endpoint of a flawed economic doctrine," that forces smaller, developing nations to pay the highest price. Rainsy also pointed out that factories supplying U.S. companies support jobs for hundreds of thousands for women and rural workers, and that Trump's levies threaten to undermine the economy of a country still recovering from the pandemic. 

On April 4, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet sent a letter to President Trump, offering to cut existing 35% tariff rates against 19 U.S. imported goods to 5%. Even so, that may not be enough to convince Trump to back off of the planned 49% levies, given that he's also been adamant about dramatically reducing U.S. trade deficits with other nations. That represents a particularly tall order for Cambodia, given that the United States' trade deficit with the country in 2024 was more than $12 billion.