Wars have been fought, ships sunk, and broader trade wars initiated over trade in textiles. No other industry comes close to matching the significant role the textile sector has held in the history of trade. Inventories of early sailing ships listed textiles as a vital part of the cargo. Critical to the economic development of country after country, the textile industry has provided both products and jobs needed by humans around the world. In the early 2000s, almost every country in the world produces textile goods, resulting in highly competitive global market conditions.
A textile industry in the colonies by refusing to share new technology and prohibiting trade with other nations. However, soon after America achieved independence, Eli Whitney's cotton gin and Samuel Slater's inventions transformed the budding industry. In years that followed, the sector led the way in many major industrial and social developments, including the emergence of factories, mill towns, employment of women outside the home, and early industrial reform. Later, it became a leader in international trade and trade problems.
Ironically, as soon as the industry began to develop in the states, they applied restrictive measures on imports, similar to the British restrictions they despised. By the late 1700s, Congress imposed tariffs and embargoes on foreign cotton to protect American cotton production. These early barriers on textile imports were a hint of later trade policies for the sector.
In virtually every developing nation, the textile/apparel industry has been the springboard for economic development, relying on textile and apparel exports to gain much-needed income. Consequently, intense competition grew, as most countries produced textile and apparel goods for the same markets in more affluent countries. In both the United States and Western Europe, the combined textile/apparel/fiber industries were the top manufacturing employers and vital contributors to the economy in every case. Worried about loss of home markets to imports, domestic producers pressured their governments to enact measures to restrict textile and apparel imports. Political leaders could hardly afford to ignore this pressure because these large industries represented large, powerful voting blocs. As a result, complex trade policies emerged at both the international and national levels to manage textile trade
