Multifiber Arrangement

Summary of Multifiber Arrangement

An international agreement among textile-producing and consuming nations to provide a framework for orderly trade in textiles and apparel. For many years, the textile manufacturing industries of the developed nations have been beset by intense competition from lower-cost imports, resulting in unemployment and economic disruption in the importing countries. In most developed industrial nations, textile manufacturing represents a major industry. In the United States, the textile and apparel industry is the nation's largest manufacturing employer, representing 2.1 million manufacturing jobs (or one out of every nine).The United States has agreements without specific restraints and without expiration dates with: Costa Rica, Greece, Jamaica, Malta, Mauritius, Nicaragua, and Peru. nations, and to fund large-scale development programs and infrastructure in poorer member countries.

The World Bank is the largest multilateral development bank, although there are several others, including the Inter-American Development Bank, the African Development Bank, and the Asian Development Bank.

(Main Author: William J. Miller)