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Chapter 19 · 1980–2005

The Great De-Industrialization

NAFTA, China, and the Death of Mill Towns

The end of the American mill. Globalization, trade agreements, and relentless cost competition emptied entire regions of the industry that had built them. The communities left behind became a defining political force in the twenty-first century.

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An abandoned, partly demolished Dan River mill in Danville, Virginia-emblem of American de-industrialization.
An abandoned, partly demolished Dan River mill in Danville, Virginia-emblem of American de-industrialization.Acroterion, "Dan River mill VA1" (2016). Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The closing decades of the twentieth century brought brutal consolidation: hundreds of mills shut, hundreds of thousands of jobs disappeared or moved to lower-cost countries, and towns that had centered on a single mill for a century were hollowed out. The North American Free Trade Agreement (1994) accelerated the trend; China's entry into the World Trade Organization (2001) intensified it; and the end of the last import quotas on January 1, 2005, removed the final layer of protection. By the 2010s, roughly ninety-seven percent of the apparel sold in the United States was imported. The consequences of this loss—depopulation, collapsing local tax bases, addiction, and a deep wound in civic life—continue to reshape American politics.

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Classroom Kit

Was the collapse of American textile jobs the unavoidable price of progress, or the result of policy choices that could have gone differently?

Primary source

Remarks on Signing the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act

William J. Clinton, December 8, 1993

NAFTA will tear down trade barriers between our three nations. It will create the world's largest trade zone and create 200,000 jobs in this country by 1995 alone. ... For two decades, most people have worked harder for less. Seemingly secure jobs have been lost. ... productivity means the same people can produce more or, very often, that fewer people can produce more. This is the world we face. We cannot stop global change.

Context: Clinton signed NAFTA after a close congressional fight in which textile-state representatives warned of mill closings. Combined with the 2005 end of global textile quotas, the agreement accelerated the move of apparel and textile production abroad.

Source: William J. Clinton. Remarks on Signing the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act. The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara. 1993

Primary source

Interview with Janet Patterson, Pillowtex Worker

Janet Patterson, interviewed by PBS NewsHour, September 23, 2003

I started five days after I turned 18. I was the first black hemmer in the sheet department ... It's like they took everything from us. And going to try and fill out applications, the only thing you can put on there is "Pillowtex, 38 years." ... It hurts.

Context: Patterson lost her job when Pillowtex, maker of Cannon and Fieldcrest towels and sheets, closed in July 2003, eliminating about 4,800 jobs in Kannapolis, North Carolina, and surrounding plants. It was the largest single layoff in North Carolina history.

Source: Textile Jobs in Decline. PBS NewsHour. 2003

Discussion questions

  1. What did Clinton predict NAFTA would do for American jobs, and what did he say about productivity?
  2. Clinton was persuading a divided Congress and public; Patterson spoke to a television reporter after her plant closed. How do their situations affect what each emphasizes?
  3. Clinton said that "fewer people can produce more." Using the chapter narrative, how much of textile job loss came from trade, and how much from automation?
  4. The United States is again using tariffs to protect manufacturing. Based on the textile experience, should government shield industries from global competition? Argue.

Key terms

NAFTA
The North American Free Trade Agreement, which removed most tariffs among the United States, Canada, and Mexico beginning in 1994.
Offshoring
Moving production or jobs to another country, usually to lower costs.
Multi-Fiber Arrangement
An international system of quotas, from 1974 to 2004, that limited how much clothing and textiles countries could export.
Trade Adjustment Assistance
A federal program that offers retraining and income support to workers who lose jobs because of foreign trade.
Automation
Using machines and computers to do work that people once did by hand.

Sources

  1. Primary sourcePillowtex press release, July 30, 2003 (Exhibit 99.2). U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, EDGAR, 2003.
  2. Government recordAgreement on Textiles and Clothing. World Trade Organization, 1995.
  3. ScholarshipTextile Jobs in Decline. PBS NewsHour.

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