ute significant barriers to market entry.
Quotas for the import of apparel and textiles into the United States are based primarily on the provisions of the Multi Fiber Agreement. The Multi Fiber Agreement provides for the negotiation of apparel and textile quotas, and these negotiations are conducted under the auspices of GATT (the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade). Virtually all major textile importing countries and exporting countries are signatories to the Multi Fiber Agreement. The Multi Fiber Agreement provides the general framework for textile trade restraints and allows any importer country to negotiate bilateral quota agreements with exporter countries. When importer and exporter countries cannot agree, the Multi Fiber Agreement permits importer countries to unilaterally impose textile import quotas or other textile import restrictions.
The great majority of clothing imports into the United States are from the lower wage countries in Asia, although some fashion imports are also received from Latin America. Lower price alone does not explain the popularity of clothing imports, although price is important. The reason for the popularity of clothing imports is lower price, without any sacrifice in quality and style.
In the 1990s, the bulk of clothing import shipments to the United States are products produced by contract for American manufacturers, as opposed to products produced on their own accounts by foreign manufacturers.
Overall, the future appears to be promising for the textiles industries in both China and India. One major threat is the restriction of textiles imports in the major import market areas of The European Community and the United States. The likelihood of such a restriction appears to be much greater in Europe than in the United States. If China makes some token gestures toward addressing human rights charges and if India refrains from openly pursuing the development of nuclear arms, t...