While ROOs have been discussed in terms of market access for automobiles and concerns about
global supply chains generally, they have proved especially contentious with regard to textiles
and apparel.82 In all previous FTAs, the United States has used the “yarn forward” rule. This rule
requires that an apparel product could be considered from within the FTA area, and therefore
eligible for preferential treatment, if the entire manufacture of the product, from the spinning of
the yarn to final assembly, has occurred within the FTA region. Representatives of the U.S. textile
industry have argued for the tighter “yarn forward rule” to be included in the TPP.83 Some U.S.
apparel firms, retailers, and distributors, as well as some TPP countries, including Vietnam, seek a
less restrictive “cut and sew,” or single transformation, rule, which would allow its products
manufactured from materials of non-TPP origin to benefit from the TPP.