Lots of countries developed via export-led growth. The argument that developing countries should provide protected domestic markets in consumer goods (not capital goods) to infant industries in order to jump-start industrialization is a serious one. The argument that a developing country should manage its imports in order to make sure they are used for expanding production rather than elite consumption is a serious one. (But so is the argument that such controls tend to lead to large-scale corruption.)
But the argument that the industrial core is doing the periphery a favor by shutting out its textile products is not a serious one.
Brad DeLong