Walmart Calls, But India’s Garment Worker Woes Blunt Tariff Edge

In a garment hub in south India, R.K. Sivasubramaniam is fielding requests from Walmart and Costco who want to sidestep higher U.S. tariffs faced by rival Asian suppliers, Bangladesh and China. But rows of idle sewing lines at his factory lay bare his biggest challenge.

“Even if orders come, we need labour. We don’t have sufficient labour,” said the managing director of Raft Garments which supplies underwear and t-shirts priced as low as $1 to US brands.

Considered India’s knitwear…