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A woman works on a production line at a textile
factory in Huaibei, in east China's Anhui province in this September
26, 2005 file
photo. |
The United States and China have reached a
tentative agreement to limit
imports of Chinese clothing and textile products into the United States,
U.S. industry officials said Saturday.
These officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal
has not yet been announced, said it could be signed as early as Tuesday
when U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman and Chinese officials will be
in Geneva.
They said that the tentative deal was reached during the eighth round
of discussions, which took place over the past week in Washington. Both
sides agreed on the major issues, they said, and discussions were
continuing on details.
The deal would be similar to an agreement China reached with the
25-nation European Union earlier this year. However, in a victory for U.S.
manufacturers, the deal would last through 2008, one year longer than the
EU agreement.
U.S. textile and apparel companies and their labor unions have been
pushing for a comprehensive deal to stem a flood of Chinese imports that
began last January when global quotas, in place for more than three
decades, were lifted.
The Bush administration has been reimposing quotas, known as
"safeguards," for individual categories of clothing and textiles. The
industry wanted a comprehensive deal covering all threatened categories of
U.S. production and lasting for three years. The safeguard quotas were
only good for a year at a time.
The tentative agreement would allow for imports of most clothing and
textile categories covered by the deal to increase by 8 to 10 percent in
2006, by around 13 percent in 2007 and by around 17 percent for 2008.
All of these percentages would be above the 7.5 percent growth allowed
under the safeguard procedures.
U.S. retailers had said they would reluctantly go along with a
comprehensive deal as long as the growth in imports was sufficient to
allow them to obtain reliable supplies.
Laura E. Jones, executive director of the United States Association of
Importers of Textiles and Apparel, which represents American retailers,
said that many of the quotas imposed under the safeguard process filled up
so quickly this year that retailers were left scrambling to find alternate
sources of supply.
"When you place your orders, you need to know that it will not be a
race to the dock with no certainty you will get your shipments," Jones
said.
Portman and Chinese officials will be in Geneva on Tuesday and
Wednesday for talks at the World Trade Organization on a global trade
deal. He is scheduled to meet Nov. 14 in Beijing with Chinese Commerce
Minister Bo Xilai.
That is one of a number of stops Portman is making to try to build
momentum for the Doha Round of global trade negotiations and critical
upcoming meetings of trade ministers in Hong Kong in December.
Portman's stop in Beijing will come just a few days before President
Bush is scheduled to visit China.
(Agencies) |