Skip to main content
Journal cover image
Free Trade and Uneven Development: The North American Apparel Industry after NAFTA

Introduction: The apparel industry and North American economic integration

Publication ,  Chapter
Spener, D; Gereffi, G; Bair, J
December 10, 2002

The economic and social consequences of international trade agreements have become a major area of inquiry in development studies in recent years. As evidenced by the energetic protests surrounding the Seattle meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in December 1999 and the controversy about China's admission to the WTO, such agreements have also become a focus of political conflict in both the developed and developing countries. At issue are questions of job gains and job losses in different regions, prices paid by consumers, acceptable standards for wages and working conditions in transnational manufacturing industries, and the quality of the environment. All these concerns have arisen with regard to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and can be addressed through an examination of changes in the dynamics of the apparel industry in the post-NAFTA period.1 In this book, we examine the evolution of the apparel industry in North America in order to address some of these questions as they pertain to North America, with an eye toward the broader implications of our findings. We also consider the countries of the Caribbean Basin and Central America, whose textile and apparel goods are now allowed to enter the U.S. market on the same basis as those from Canada and Mexico (Odessey 2000). © 2009 by Temple University Press. All rights reserved.

Duke Scholars

ISBN

9781566399678

Publication Date

December 10, 2002

Start / End Page

3 / 22

Publisher

Temple University Press
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Spener, D., Gereffi, G., & Bair, J. (2002). Introduction: The apparel industry and North American economic integration. In G. Gereffi, D. Spener, & J. Bair (Eds.), Free Trade and Uneven Development: The North American Apparel Industry after NAFTA (pp. 3–22). Temple University Press.
Spener, D., G. Gereffi, and J. Bair. “Introduction: The apparel industry and North American economic integration.” In Free Trade and Uneven Development: The North American Apparel Industry after NAFTA, edited by G. Gereffi, D. Spener, and J. Bair, 3–22. Temple University Press, 2002.
Spener D, Gereffi G, Bair J. Introduction: The apparel industry and North American economic integration. In: Gereffi G, Spener D, Bair J, editors. Free Trade and Uneven Development: The North American Apparel Industry after NAFTA. Temple University Press; 2002. p. 3–22.
Spener, D., et al. “Introduction: The apparel industry and North American economic integration.” Free Trade and Uneven Development: The North American Apparel Industry after NAFTA, edited by G. Gereffi et al., Temple University Press, 2002, pp. 3–22.
Spener D, Gereffi G, Bair J. Introduction: The apparel industry and North American economic integration. In: Gereffi G, Spener D, Bair J, editors. Free Trade and Uneven Development: The North American Apparel Industry after NAFTA. Temple University Press; 2002. p. 3–22.
Journal cover image

ISBN

9781566399678

Publication Date

December 10, 2002

Start / End Page

3 / 22

Publisher

Temple University Press