Maquiladoras

A maquiladora is an assembly or manufacturing plant, in most cases along the border between two countries, which receives imported materials and equipment duty-free, assembles the product, and then exports the product back to the originating country with very low or no tariffs. The word maquiladora comes from the Spanish word maquilar, which means to assemble, and was first used to describe plants established under a special program on the Mexican side of the U.S. Mexican border. The term and concept have since spread to areas in other countries where trade barriers are reduced on imported materials to assemble goods for export.

Mexico's maquiladora program was established in 1965 to create jobs for Mexican workers after the end of the Bracero program, which had allowed Mexican ...