Textiles and clothing trade: Trends and development after the Europe Agreements and the Uruguay Round

The 20th birthday of the Multifibre Arrangement (MFA) took place in concomitance with the conclusion of a fundamental GATT negotiating round, the Uruguay Round, that after long and difficult negotiations brought it to an end with the Arrangement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC). Notwithstanding, the implementation of the first step of the integration process seems to have driven by the desire to further postpone the liberalization of the Sector. In the meanwhile, the rank of preferences of the EU has changed. Our empirical analysis shows that, if after 1991 Europe Agreements have assured a potential better market access to MFA products coming from CEECs, these countries have been able to increase their share in the European Union MFA imports only in the outward processing traffic regime, while direct trade is still dominated by the presence of the Asian countries.