U.S. says China rejects textile talks

Updated 1:56 p.m. ET, Thu Apr 15, 2004

The JOURNAL of COMMERCE ONLINE
 

China has refused to negotiate a comprehensive textile agreement to limit exports to the United States after a decades-old quota system expires at the end of the year, a U.S. official said on Tuesday.

"The Chinese have been categorical...about a comprehensive agreement. They're not interested," Commerce Undersecretary Grant Aldonas told reporters after a speech to a group of trade policy specialists.

The Bush administration will use its authority under U.S. trade law to restrict imports of clothing and other textiles from China when an appropriate case can be made, Aldonas said.

But Chinese officials do not feel that threat is great enough to warrant negotiating a pact that limits their overall access to the U.S. textile market, he said.

In November, the Bush administration restricted imports of bras, dressing gowns and knit fabrics from China using a special 'safeguard' provision of that country's entry into the World Trade Organization in December 2001.

The U.S. textile industry plans to ask for restrictions on a number of other Chinese clothing products unless Beijing agrees to voluntarily limit exports to the U.S. after the international quota system ends.

Aldonas said the United States would continue to push Beijing to lower government subsidies that encourage textile companies to invest in China at the expense of other countries and to reduce trade barriers that prevent U.S. firms from selling their fabric in the Chinese market.