Since the late 1950s, the international textile trade has been subject to a series of agreements known as “Orderly Marketing Agreements” (OMA). These are wide-ranging and set the standards for "negotiated" bilateral agreements between an importing and an exporting country. Under the current Multi Fiber Arrangement (MFA III), the United States reached 24 bilateral agreements with its main suppliers, limiting the importation of products and their growth rate. To understand the process, it is necessary to first examine the historical development of the Orderly Marketing Agreements up to the third Multi Fiber Arrangement - currently in force -, the creation of the automatic restriction system and the proposed legislation intended to drastically modify the current Agreement. For this, the history from the first postwar Japanese agreement to the third Multi Fiber Arrangement is outlined and the consequences of the North American position are analyzed.
Keywords:
United States, Orderly Marketing Agreements, Textile Trade, Multi Fiber Arrangement, International Economic Relations
Author Biographies
Joseph Pelzman
Economista peruano, y especialista en integración
José Núñez, BID
Economista peruano y especialista en integración del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID).
Pelzman, J., & Núñez, J. (1985). El crimen más largo : los controles impuestos por los Estados Unidos a la exportación de productos textiles. Estudios Internacionales, 18(72), p. 593–600. https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-3769.1985.15756