The US has a free trade agreement with Morocco. Five classes of woven garments imported into the US can be made with fabrics sourced from outside of Morocco or the US and still be eligible for preferential treatment. These garments include women’s or girls’ cotton corduroy skirts and polyester corduroy manmade fiber blouses, shirts and blouses; women’s trousers of synthetic bi-stretch fabric containing certain percentages of polyester, rayon and spandex, and women’s trousers of woven herringbone fabric containing certain amounts of viscose rayon, polyester, cotton, wool, nylon and spandex.

Morocco had petitioned for these classifications of goods to be exempt from the yarn-forward rule on behalf of a domestic supplier because they were not commercially available in the US. There were other fabrics that Morocco also requested a waiving of the yarn-forward rule but the exemptions were not granted. Qualification of apparel for duty-free entry into the US requires adherence to a yarn forward rule, which limits the benefits that can be obtained from sourcing in Morocco.

Duties on 95 per cent of bilateral trade in industrial and consumer goods have been eliminated upon entry into force, with duties on other such goods to be phased out in stages in the next ten years.