But in the last 30 years, the US's share of cotton exports has gone down as Brazil, India, and Africa's cotton exports go up. And that trend will likely continue as the US moves away from its expensive cotton subsidies. In fact, these days it's already possible to find t-shirts with Brazilian, Indian, or Ugandan cotton, or a mixture of cottons from all around the world. But because the American government doesn't subsidize industry in the way it does agricultural production, the actual spinning and weaving of the cotton takes place in lower-wage countries – Mexico, Guatemala, Vietnam, China, India, China, China, sometimes even China. And then the finished shirts, called blanks, are usually sent to Europe or the United States for screen printing and then sold. You would think the most expensive part of this process is the part where we ship this across the Pacific Ocean, turn it into this, and then ship it back across the Pacific Ocean. But you'd be wrong.