In a decisive move for international trade in textiles and apparel, the US administration accepted reimposing limits on three categories of China imports which were freed of any US quota from 1 January 2002. .
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Effective from Tuesday, quotas are being set for knit fabrics, cotton and man-made fiber dressing gowns and robes and cotton and man-made fiber brassieres, the US Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) voted on Monday night. .
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A petition to reimpose limits had been previously filed by the US textile industry association, the ATMI. The US decision is made possible by the agreement negotiated with Beijing before China accession to the WTO and including a special textile safeguard for quota-free imports from China. From 1 January 2002, US quotas were removed for a series of textile and apparel categories after China joined the WTO. .
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The safeguard is invoked for the first time and it could be largely used by the United States after all quotas will have been eliminated in less than fourteen months. .
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Under the safeguard, consultations will be held with China in the coming three months. The new quotas are being immediately imposed for a 1-year period, however. As planned by WTO provision, the limit will not exceed 7.5% above the level of imports reached in the first twelve months of the most recent fourteen months or the period between 1 October 2002 and 30 September 2003. .
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As a result, US imports of dressing gowns should not exceed 4,094,382 dozen in this period while not above 16,835,870 dozen in category (bras), as yesterday calculated by the US apparel industry association, the AAFA.”It is unclear at this time how a visa system would work or when visas would be required for products subject to the safeguard quotas”, the AAFA said in a statement. .
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The US apparel industry strongly opposes the CITA decision, actually, such as US importers and retailers. The new safeguard will mainly benefit China low-cost competitors in Asia, they all argued. .
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At the opposite, the US textile industry applauded the decision to re-impose the limits. “This is only the beginning,” said in a statement the ATMI (American Textile Manufacturers Association), the lobbying arm of the US textile industry. .
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The US textile industry has put a strong pressure on the Bush administration in the past months after a series of textile plants were forced shutting down and scores of jobs were eliminated. .
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Textile producers actually formed a vast coalition with other manufacturers, denouncing the surge in imports from China and the low level in the Chinese currency, the yuan-renminbi.
With Washington now re-imposing quotas, it is not yet clear if Beijing will effectively retaliate. “The Chinese government expresses deep regret and firmly opposes this decision,” said a Commerce Ministry spokesman. .
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“The government should react,” said to news agencies an executive of the China Cotton Association. .
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China urgently needs purchasing US cotton these days, actually. Although the US announced the new limits, a business trip to the United States of Chinese cotton buyers was maintained, as a clear sign that China could prefer doing “business as usual”.
Date:11/25/2003
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