China Agrees to Limit Textile Exports Through 2008
After more than three months of intense trade talks, China has agreed to limit its textile exports to the United States until the end of 2008.
The agreement between the two countries means that safeguard measures, which have been used in the past to impose temporary quotas on various clothing categories, will be replaced with a more uniform and predictable method of curtailing apparel and textiles imports from China.
The agreement goes into effect Jan. 1 and ends Dec. 31, 2008. “We sought an agreement that achieves the stability and predictability sought by our retailers and textile producers, who understandably found it hard to plan in the face of unpredictable safeguards,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Portman said in a statement.
China has agreed to limit exports of 14 of the largest and most controversial categories, including trousers, shirts, knitwear, underwear and bras, to 5.5 percent growth in 2006, 7.8 percent in 2007 and 10.3 percent in 2008.
In 20 other categories, exports will be limited to 10–12 percent growth in 2006, 12–15 percent in 2007 and 16 percent in 2008.
The limits were negotiated by David Spooner, the chief textile expert for the U.S. trade representative’s office. Talks started after the end of textile quotas prompted Chinese textile exports to the United States to increase 50 percent, to $17.7 billion, during the first half of 2005.
As part of joining the World Trade Organization, China agreed to allow the United States and other WTO members to impose a cap of 7.5 percent on the annual growth of China’s textile exports until the end of 2008.
This new agreement is a more liberal deal for China, which has become the No. 1 garment and textile supplier to the United States. During the first eight months of this year, it accounted for 33 percent of the U.S. import market by volume. Mexico is No. 2 with 8 percent.
Under the new agreement, announced Nov. 8, China can export 3.2 percent more of the covered products than under the safeguards system. —Deborah Belgum
