In 1898, US occupation of Puerto Rico opened possibilities for experimentation with manufacturing, investment, tariffs, and citizenship because the Treaty of Paris did not address territorial incorporation. Imperial experimentation started immediately and continued through the liberal policies of the New Deal and World War II, consistently reproducing drastic exceptions. These exceptions were neither permanent nor complete, but the rearrangements of sovereignty and citizenship established Puerto Rico as a site of potential and persistent exemption. Puerto Rican needleworkers were central to the resulting colonial industrialization-not as dormant labor awaiting outside developmental forces but as skilled workers experienced in production. Following US occupation, continental trade agents and manufacturers noted the intricate needlework of Puerto Rican women and their employment in homes and small shops for contractors across the island. Their cooptation and adaptation of this contracting system led to the colonial industrialization, generating bureaucratic, financial, and legal infrastructure later used in Operation Bootstrap, a long-term economic plan devised in the 1940s and 1950s. Labor unions and aggrieved workers contested and resisted this colonial industrialization. They advocated their own proposals and pushed against US economic policies and insular business management. Throughout these fights, the asymmetrical power of the federal government and industrial capital allowed the colonial regime to assert US sovereignty while continually realigning exemptions and redefining citizenship for liberal economic objectives. Rather than representing a weakening of the nation-state, this strong interventionist approach provided scaffolding for Operation Bootstrap, which became a model for the neoliberal projects called export processing zones (EPZs).

1898年，美国占领波多黎各为试验制造，投资，关税和公民身份开辟了可能性，因为《巴黎条约》未涉及领土合并。帝国试验立即开始，并通过新政和第二次世界大战的自由政策继续进行，一贯地再现出各种严重的例外情况。这些例外既不是永久性的也不是永久性的，但是主权和公民权的重新安排使波多黎各成为潜在和持久豁免的地点。波多黎各人的针线活对于由此产生的殖民地工业化至关重要-并不是等待外部发展力量的休眠劳动力，而是生产中经验丰富的熟练工人。在美国占领之后 大陆贸易代理商和制造商指出，波多黎各妇女错综复杂的针线活以及在岛上的承包商中的家庭和小商店就业。他们对这一承包制的选择和改编导致了殖民地工业化，产生了官僚，金融和法律基础设施，这些基础后来被用于1940年代和1950年代制定的一项长期经济计划Operation Bootstrap。工会和委屈的工人争辩并抵制这种殖民地工业化。他们主张自己的建议，并反对美国的经济政策和孤立的企业管理。在这些战斗中，联邦政府和工业资本的不对称权力使殖民政权能够维护美国的主权，同时不断调整豁免范围，并为自由经济目标重新定义公民身份。这种强大的干预主义方法并没有代表民族国家的衰落，而是为“自举行动”提供了脚手架，而“自举行动”成为了称为出口加工区（EPZ）的新自由主义项目的典范。