THE GEOGRAPHY OF TRADE-POLICY - TRADE REGIMES AND LOCATION DECISIONS IN THE TEXTILE AND APPAREL COMPLEX

Today the global spatial structure of the textile and apparel industri es is evolving largely in response to trade policy. Increased foreign competition has prompted developed nations to protect their home marke ts. Yet rather than use the breathing room provided by protectionist p olicies to restructure, American companies have chosen to postpone str ategic reorientation and adjustment. Simultaneously, trade barriers ha ve steered developing nations into new avenues of competition and stre ngthened their emerging industries. Consequently, for US companies opt ions such as moving up-scale appear to have passed. Maintenance of sta tus quo firm and industry strategies have essentially welded the texti le and apparel industries to regions where production has historically been concentrated. Changing trade regimes threaten to spur the ongoin g process of globalization and heavily impact regions with large share s of these increasingly uncompetitive industries.