Textile Quotas to End, Punishing Carolina Towns

The New York Times – Textile Quotas to End, Punishing Carolina Towns

On Jan. 1, 2005, the global system of country-by-country quotas regulating international trade in textiles and apparel is scheduled to be eliminated. Chinese factories now make about 20 percent of the clothing and textiles sold in the United States, but after the quotas are eliminated, China will probably capture as much as 70 percent of the U.S. market. This could lead to the closing of half the existing American textile mills and layoffs for tens of thousands more workers.