纺织和服装贸易的相关问题研究外文翻译.docVIP

外文翻译 原文 Textile and Apparel Trade Issues（extracts） Material Source: Specialist in Industry Economics Resources, Science, and Industry Division Author: Bernard A. Gelb Summary Textile and apparel production and international trade have been important elements of economic activity and growth since the Industrial Revolution. Major reasons are (1) textiles and apparel are basic items of consumption in all countries, and (2) textile and apparel manufacture — particularly apparel — is labor-intensive, requiring relatively little fixed capital for entrepreneurs to establish production facilities. Thus, these industries are major generators of jobs in many countries. Because of its importance to the U.S. economy and to many U.S. trade partners, textile and apparel trade has been a major issue in trade relations with a number of countries and regions. Other industrialized countries have faced similar issues, and in attempts to resolve conflicts between the interests of exporters and importers, a number of agreements (multilateral and bilateral) were signed over the years generally restricting the quantities of textiles and apparel traded. A major recent event was the completion on January 1, 2005, of the phase out of such quotas, as mandated by the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations in the 1990s. In the last several decades, textile and apparel manufacture has been shifting to developing countries as a whole, with textiles and apparel accounting for large portions of their exports to industrially developed countries. Lower wages in developing countries together with the labor-intensiveness of apparel production tend to give those countries a cost advantage in apparel manufacture and a locational advantage for their textile production. Also, there have been large shifts in many individual countries’ shares of world textile and apparel trade since the mid-1990s.The basic worldwide shifts have affected