International Trade in Textiles and Clothing: Implications for the Future

Abstract

For over ten years the United States has tried through multilateral and bilateral agreements to resolve the problems of trade in textiles and apparel with developing nations. Through first the Long Term Arrangement Regarding Trade in Cotton Textiles (LTA) and then the Multi Fiber Arrangement (MFA) and many bilateral arrangements, almost constant negotiation has occurred. The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) supervises compliance with all textile agreements with adaice from industry, labor and importers and retailers groups. Embargoes of goods, pleadings before the Textile Surveillance Board in Geneva, and complaints filed with the International Trade Commision (ITC) are all a part of the textiles trade in practice. When non-MFA signatories are large textiles exporters, further legal and diplomatic complications arise. The final balance of consumer versus producer interests, foreign jobs versus U.S. jobs, and support for U.S. foreign policy versus support for U.S. workers is a precarious one.