US Agriculture Secretary Brooke L. Rollins announced two new actions under the department's Great American Cotton Plan on 16 October during a visit to Giesenschlag Farms in Caldwell, Texas, one of which links American cotton sales to Bangladesh and three other apparel exporters with US tariff treatment on their clothing.
USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) is designing a mechanism, to launch in 2027, that will encourage purchases of American cotton. FAS will verify purchases of US cotton by Bangladesh, Indonesia, Cambodia and Malaysia, in exchange for preferential tariff treatment on imports of apparel made with US cotton and textile inputs. The department is taking over responsibility for this cotton tariff-rate quota (TRQ) process, which sets the terms under which given quantities of imports enter at designated rates, to align it with its wider farm trade mission.
For growers, USDA's Risk Management Agency (RMA) will allow producers, including cotton growers, to buy multiple endorsements on one crop insurance policy for the 2027 crop year, extra protection that also applies to other eligible crops. RMA is due to send final details to approved insurance providers and agents by 30 November 2026. The department said a tax law signed on 4 July 2025 had already widened and cheapened many crop insurance products.
"Under the last administration, the United States lost our title as the world's top cotton exporter," Rollins said, adding that the plan launched in May was meant to give producers more protection against risk and better trade opportunities.
For Bangladesh, the arrangement ties preferential US treatment of its apparel to verified purchases of American fibre; the release does not give quantities or tariff rates.
Photo: Kimberly Vardeman / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Source: usda
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