[muh-kee-luh-dawr-uh; Sp. mah-kee-ah-daw-rah] 
z; Sp. ‑daw-rahs] | a factory run by a U.S. company in Mexico to take advantage of cheap labor and lax regulation. |
| ma·qui·la·do·ra (mä-kē'lä-dō'rä) n. An assembly plant in Mexico, especially one along the border between the United States and Mexico, to which foreign materials and parts are shipped and from which the finished product is returned to the original market. [American Spanish, place where the miller's fee is paid, maquiladora, from Spanish maquila, portion received by the miller in return for milling one's grain, from Old Spanish, from Arabic makīla, measured, measure of capacity, feminine passive participle of kāla, to measure; see kwl in Semitic roots.] |
maquiladora
manufacturing plant that imports and assembles duty-free components for export. The arrangement allows plant owners to take advantage of low-cost labour and to pay duty only on the "value added"-that is, on the value of the finished product minus the total cost of the components that had been imported to make it. The vast majority of maquiladoras are owned and operated by Mexican, Asian, and American companies
Learn more about maquiladora with a free trial on Britannica.com.