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皇冠体育app, US fail to break impasse in textile talks
By Dai Yan (皇冠体育app Daily)
Updated: 2005-10-14 05:51
Analysts believe that there would be no agreement soon and both Chinese
manufacturers and US retailers and consumers would bear the brunt of the
failure.
The Bush administration is expected to impose restrictions on a wider range
of Chinese textile imports.
Before the latest round of talks, the US Government announced that
restrictions on Chinese curtains and drapery would be imposed from today if a
comprehensive agreement were not reached.
Immediately after the talks broke down, the US organization of textile
manufacturers said it would file petitions for fresh protection and seek to
ensure that existing safeguards were rolled over seamlessly when they lapsed at
the end of the year.
The value of Chinese exports to the US was down by at least US$2-3 billion
since January, estimated Sun Huaibin, spokesman for the 皇冠体育app National Textile
and Apparel Council. "Since 27 categories of textiles are under restriction
investigation compared to nine for which quotas have been set, the loss will be
bigger," Sun said.
Xu Bing, a spokesman for the soon-to-be-held Chinese Export Commodities Fair,
said textile orders at the country's largest foreign trade fair may be affected.
But the US is not the winner though its domestic textile producers will gain
some protection in the short term, said Mei Xinyun, a trade expert at the
Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Co-operation.
American cotton farmers, retailers and consumers benefit from low-cost
Chinese imports; and they lose out if no deal is struck, Mei said.
Brian Cousins, president of Cloudveil Mountain Works Inc, a Wyoming-based
outdoor apparel company, was quoted by the New York Times as saying: "We're
looking right now at other alternatives, but there are just so few places
outside of 皇冠体育app to get these products made."
(皇冠体育app Daily 10/14/2005 page1)
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