Textile Talks with Chinese Collapse
The fourth round of negotiations to curb the import of Chinese textiles into the United States ended Oct. 13 without any agreement being hammered out. It was unclear whether a fifth round would be scheduled between China and the United States.
David Spooner, the U.S. textile negotiator in Beijing for the meetings held Oct. 12 and 13, said in a statement that the United States would “not sign an agreement which fails to meet the needs of our domestic manufacturers and retailers.”
Negotiators were trying to establish some kind of predictable curbs on textile and apparel importations. Right now, safeguard measures, or temporary quotas, have been implemented on a category-by-category basis to limit imports to 7.5 percent of the previous year’s quantity. The Chinese had wanted import restrictions to run until the end of 2007, while the United States wanted to extend it to the end of 2008.
This means that U.S. apparel companies and retailers will face another spell of uncertainty when importing goods from China next year. Several apparel and textile categories have already been embargoed for the rest of the year. Those include cotton and synthetic knit tops, cotton and synthetic pants, and underwear.
On Nov. 1, the U.S. Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA), a conglomeration of five U.S. government agencies headed by the Dept. of Commerce, is to decide whether to restrict imports of socks, women’s and girl’s woven tops, skirts, swimwear, and nightwear.
On Nov. 30, CITA is to decide whether to restrict imports of sweaters, dressing gowns and robes, knit fabric, and men’s and boy’s wool trousers.
According to the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition, based in Washington, D.C., apparel and textile imports from China to the United States increased 64 percent during the first eight months of 2005 compared with the same period last year. It rose from $9.4 billion to $15.4 billion. —Deborah Belgum
