O Intermitente
(So long, farewell, auf weidersehen, good-bye)

quinta-feira, janeiro 20, 2005

Comércio Livre

Artigo de Dan Ikerson no China Gate acerca da liberalização do comércio de têxteis.

Along with EU countries, Canada and other developed countries, the United States is to lift all limits on the number of textile they import.

This is good news for developing countries which have competitive advantages in labour-intensive industries like textile. It is a great opportunity for them to stimulate their foreign trade as well as boost domestic job markets.

Yet, developed countries, which are supposed to lift their quotas, are reluctant to do so because developing countries have a much larger share of the global textile market.

The latest statistics from the World Trade Organization show that developing countries take 55 per cent of the world's total textile exports, which stood at US$1.369 trillion, in 2003. They also exported 71 per cent of the clothing around the world in the same year.

Therefore, the governments in developed countries are facing tremendous political pressure from within, despite the fact that eliminating the quota could boost the welfare of people around the world.

(...)

Capping quotas may help maximize the national interests of the US for a while as it tries to ease the shock to the US economy posed by the globalized textile trade with special safeguards. But it will definitely have a negative effect on industrial restructuring in the long run.

Therefore, it is a good choice for the US Government to face challenges with an open mind to realize the long-term interests of the textile and apparel industry at the cost of short-term shocks.