LAT:Shift in (textile quotas) Roil Global Economy(horror for poor nations)

[DeepModem Mom]

A WORLD UNRAVELS
Shifts in Apparel Trade Roil Global Economy
The end of textile quotas will boost China but threaten living standards in many poor nations

By Tyler Marshall, Evelyn Iritani and Marla Dickerson, Times Staff Writers


....The end of the quotas has triggered what trade experts believe could be one of the largest migrations of production in history, jeopardizing Cambodia's 220,000 apparel jobs. Hundreds of thousands more are threatened in Bangladesh, El Salvador, Lesotho and other countries that prospered under the quota system.

The massive manufacturing shift will be a windfall for billions of people, bringing huge savings to consumers and accelerating the transfer of jobs to engines of low-cost production in China and India. But it could cripple economies across Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Relative newcomers to the international commerce club risk losing their claim to an industry that lets them play in the big leagues. Millions of people whose jobs sewing knit shirts or jeans have meant schooling for their children or roofs over their heads could slide further into poverty.

In Africa, where manufacturers supply employees with condoms and healthcare, the battle against AIDS could be weakened. Illegal immigration from Latin America to North America may rise. Efforts to improve the economic position of women in predominantly Muslim countries are threatened.

The quota system "has been an extremely cost-effective method of bringing social and political stability to a very needy part of the world," said Peter Craig, a Washington-based trade commissioner for the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius, which has lost 20,000 apparel jobs since 2003. When the full effects of its end are felt, "it'll be horrendous."...


http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-quotaone16jan16,0,3076753.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[mikehiggins]

1. Switching textiles out of the US wasn't much fun here either

Lots of US citizens know exactly what these third world folks are facing but you know what? They'll have just as much success keeping their jobs as our people did.

Ah! The blessings of capitalism!