China Wants EU Agreement To Act As Baseline In Textile Dispute With US

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

09 September 2005

Following the approval by EU member states on Wednesday of a deal reached by EC and Chinese negotiators over textile quotas for this year and beyond, a Chinese government official has stated that any deal reached with the US authorities on the same issue should be along similar lines.

EU representatives on Monday reached a deal with their Chinese counterparts which will allow blocked clothing and textiles to be released, with 50% representing an increase in this year's quotas, and 50% being counted against 2006 quotas. Despite concerns that the agreement would be blocked by certain disgruntled member states, reports later in the week revealed that it had been approved.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, deputy director with the Chinese Commerce Ministry's Department of American and Oceanian Affairs, Jin Xu observed that:

"I think the provisions of an agreement between China and the US should be no worse than those between China and the EU."

Following the failure by US and Chinese negotiators last week to reach an agreement in the row over textile imports, the Bush administration revealed that it would impose new curbs on the importation of certain types of clothes.

Although it was agreed that further talks on the matter will take place at an unspecified date in the future, the US authorities announced their decision to impose limits on imports of bras and synthetic fabric, adding to limits on cotton trousers, certain types of underwear and knitted shirts that were already in place.

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