| US to review textile petitions on China |
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| Thursday,October 06,2005 Posted: 15:16 BJT(0716 GMT) China daily |
The Bush administration announced Wednesday it has accepted petitions from the U.S. textile industry to launch investigations into whether quotas should be imposed on 21 categories of clothing and textile imports from China.
The decision further escalates a trade battle between the two nations and is expected to bring more pressure to bear on China to settle the disputes by reaching a comprehensive agreement covering clothing and textile trade to escape being hit by further individual quota cases.
The administration's interagency panel that governs textile trade said it had accepted petitions to continue current quotas covering 16 categories of clothing and textiles including shirts, trousers, bras and underwear. Import growth from China in these categories was limited for a 12-month period to increases of 7.5 percent but those limits will expire at the end of this year if not renewed.
The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements also accepted petitions from the industry to cover five new categories including wool suits, coats, cheesecloth and polyester filament fabric.
All the cases will be decided by January unless the government asks for further time to complete its investigation.
Negotiators from the United States and China reported progress last week in their third round of talks on reaching a comprehensive deal to limit Chinese clothing imports, which have been flooding into the country since global quotas were lifted last January. Further talks are expected this month.
American manufacturers said China must make better offers in terms of how many products will be covered and the length of the agreement. The industry wants the limits to remain in effect through 2008.
The U.S. industry said Wednesday it was pleased that the administration had accepted for review all of its pending cases.
"If China is unwilling to agree to a reasonable comprehensive textile deal that covers all of these products, we urge the U.S. government to approve these cases," said Auggie Tantillo, executive director of the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition.
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