The Implementation Of Neoliberal Policies - 1334 Words

For investors in clothing retailers and manufacturers, the expiration of the MFA means good times ahead. Thirty million textile workers, on the other hand, have just been shoved off the cliff. The institutions that regulate global trade, the powerful nations that dominate them, and the corporations whose interests they promote are committed to reshaping global trade rules along neoliberal lines, even if the changes cause upheaval for tens of millions of workers worldwide. There s nothing inherently wrong with clothes being manufactured in China or India rather than in Mauritius or Bangladesh. But there is something wrong with a global trade regime that pushes millions of poor workers into one sector then, with little ado, kicks them out†¦show more content†¦Stage two involves processing the yarns into fabrics. Stage three involves cutting the fabric into turning them into finished goods. As one moves down the supply chain, the scale of operations also tends to decline, and t he number of firms increases (USITC, 2004). In the latter half of the 20th century, this resulted in the migration of fabric and apparel production –the last two stages on the supply chain– to areas with lower labor costs. In 1975 the Multifiber Arrangement was created to regulate the amount of textile imports that a developed country can receive from a developing country. The imlememtation of quotas allowed developing countries to have an opportunity to some of the market share in the global clothing market, and consistently contribute to the development of The United States, Canada, and the European Union put quotas on the amount of apparel entering their country at any given year. The implementation of this agreement was a contentious political issue at the time because the overview of this agreement is highly protectionist while at the same time there was beginning to be a shift to neoliberal agenda. Although neoliberalism was becoming the prominent economic philosophy that countries should adopt, the United States and the Europe realized that developing countries were proven to have an absolute advantage due to