Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of abbreviations and acronyms
- List of contributors
- 1 An overview: options for global trade reform – a view from the Asia-Pacific
- 2 Agriculture and the Doha Development Agenda
- 3 Liberalizing trade in manufactures
- 4 Returning textiles and clothing to GATT disciplines
- 5 Approaches to further liberalization of trade in services
- 6 Liberalization of air transport services
- 7 Liberalization of maritime transport services
- 8 International trade in telecoms services
- 9 East Asia and options for negotiations on investment
- 10 Competition policy, developing countries, and the World Trade Organization
- 11 The long and winding road to the Government Procurement Agreement: Korea's accession experience
- 12 Trade facilitation in the World Trade Organization: Singapore to Doha and beyond
- 13 Trade, the environment, and labor: text, institutions, and context
- Index
- References
4 - Returning textiles and clothing to GATT disciplines
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of abbreviations and acronyms
- List of contributors
- 1 An overview: options for global trade reform – a view from the Asia-Pacific
- 2 Agriculture and the Doha Development Agenda
- 3 Liberalizing trade in manufactures
- 4 Returning textiles and clothing to GATT disciplines
- 5 Approaches to further liberalization of trade in services
- 6 Liberalization of air transport services
- 7 Liberalization of maritime transport services
- 8 International trade in telecoms services
- 9 East Asia and options for negotiations on investment
- 10 Competition policy, developing countries, and the World Trade Organization
- 11 The long and winding road to the Government Procurement Agreement: Korea's accession experience
- 12 Trade facilitation in the World Trade Organization: Singapore to Doha and beyond
- 13 Trade, the environment, and labor: text, institutions, and context
- Index
- References
Summary
Agreement on rules to reintegrate textiles and clothing under disciplines of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is frequently regarded as one of the major achievements of the Uruguay Round. Unfortunately, the agreement allowed the industrial countries a great deal of discretion in the manner in which they undertook this reintegration. And, as in the case of the agricultural tariffication discussed in chapter 2, this discretion was used to delay the process of reform.
The extremely backend-loaded nature of the reform program for textiles and clothing has been the focus of much concern for developing countries. Acceleration of the phase-out program was a major demand of developing countries in the lead-up to the failed 1999 Seattle Ministerial and in subsequent discussions. While developed countries have reiterated their intention to fully implement their commitment to eliminate barriers to textile and clothing trade, as promised under the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC), the developing countries remain concerned about the possibility of backsliding. This issue will overhang at least the first three years of the negotiations initiated at the Doha Ministerial, despite the renewed affirmation of WTO members to full and faithful implementation of the ATC (WTO 2001). Clearly, then, it is important to have a clear understanding of the issues involved.
The establishment and abolition of the Multi-Fiber Arrangement
Textiles and clothing have been traded under restrictions whose origins can be traced to the 1930s.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Options for Global Trade ReformA View from the Asia-Pacific, pp. 71 - 95Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003