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Financial Times (London, England)
September 1, 2005 Thursday
London Edition 2
SECTION: ASIA-PACIFIC; Pg. 10
LENGTH: 559 words
HEADLINE: China and US hit an impasse over textiles quotas
BYLINE: By EDWARD ALDEN, RICHARD MCGREGOR and GEORGE PARKER
DATELINE: BEIJING, BRUSSELS and WASHINGTON
BODY:
The US and China failed yesterday to strike a deal to restrain Chinese textiles exports to the US, making it unlikely that any agreement would be struck before the high-profile visit to Washington next week by Hu Jintao, China's president.
But as hopes dimmed for a US-China deal, China resumed talks with the European Union aimed at resolving the acrimonious bilateral dispute over textile quotas, agreed in June, which has left between 70m-80m Chinese unlicensed garments locked in storage.
The Chinese official media had raised expectations of a deal with the US by issuing positive commentaries ahead of the restart of the talks, stressing the need to settle contentious issues before Mr Hu's Washington trip.
While some discussions were continuing in Beijing last night, there now appears little chance of a negotiated settlement before Mr Hu's September 7 meeting with George W. Bush, the US president.
The US textile industry said it would now file a series of new "safeguard" cases aimed at blocking additional categories of Chinese clothing exports to the US. Washington faced a deadline yesterday for ruling on another half dozen cases already filed by the industry.
Both the US and the EU have reimposed quotas on Chinese clothing imports in recent months, using China's accession agreement to the World Trade Organisation which allowed for new restrictions in the case of a surge in exports.
Washington would like a comprehensive deal that gives both importers and US textile manufacturers certainty about the rate of growth of Chinese imports until 2008, after which the US will lose its ability to restrict Chinese imports.
But sources said the two sides made little progress in the Beijing talks, with the US insisting on tight quota restrictions on a broad range of imports until the end of 2008 and China offering looser restrictions on fewer categories until 2007. Beijing also wants assurances that the US would not impose additional quotas in the future.
The US textile industry accused China of refusing to negotiate seriously in the talks, in part because the problems in Europe may have persuaded Chinese officials that the US would not insist on tight quotas.
The EU and China succeeded on June 10 in reaching an agreement to limit exports over the next three years in 10 clothing categories, but that now risks falling apart because of the introduction of the new quotas.
Peter Mandelson, EU trade commissioner, last night resumed talks with Bo Xilai, Chinese trade minister, aimed at persuading Beijing to share the cost of dealing with the piles of unlicensed Chinese goods ordered by EU retailers but which ended up breaching the new quotas.
Mr Mandelson wants China to accept that some of the blocked garments should be included in the 2006 quotas, or shifted to one of the two remaining unfilled quotas: for cotton textiles or table linen. Yesterday he won agreement in principle from the 25 EU member states that there should be a speedy release of the blocked goods into the shops, but textile producers such as France, Italy, Spain and Portugal insisted the goods should not be additional to the quotas agreed on June 10.
Mr Mandelson will today put new proposals forward to the European Commission with an aim to resolving the issue with member states by the end of the week, to avoid the issue dominating next Monday's EU-China summit.
LOAD-DATE: August 31, 2005
September 1, 2005 Thursday
London Edition 2
SECTION: ASIA-PACIFIC; Pg. 10
LENGTH: 559 words
HEADLINE: China and US hit an impasse over textiles quotas
BYLINE: By EDWARD ALDEN, RICHARD MCGREGOR and GEORGE PARKER
DATELINE: BEIJING, BRUSSELS and WASHINGTON
BODY:
The US and China failed yesterday to strike a deal to restrain Chinese textiles exports to the US, making it unlikely that any agreement would be struck before the high-profile visit to Washington next week by Hu Jintao, China's president.
But as hopes dimmed for a US-China deal, China resumed talks with the European Union aimed at resolving the acrimonious bilateral dispute over textile quotas, agreed in June, which has left between 70m-80m Chinese unlicensed garments locked in storage.
The Chinese official media had raised expectations of a deal with the US by issuing positive commentaries ahead of the restart of the talks, stressing the need to settle contentious issues before Mr Hu's Washington trip.
While some discussions were continuing in Beijing last night, there now appears little chance of a negotiated settlement before Mr Hu's September 7 meeting with George W. Bush, the US president.
The US textile industry said it would now file a series of new "safeguard" cases aimed at blocking additional categories of Chinese clothing exports to the US. Washington faced a deadline yesterday for ruling on another half dozen cases already filed by the industry.
Both the US and the EU have reimposed quotas on Chinese clothing imports in recent months, using China's accession agreement to the World Trade Organisation which allowed for new restrictions in the case of a surge in exports.
Washington would like a comprehensive deal that gives both importers and US textile manufacturers certainty about the rate of growth of Chinese imports until 2008, after which the US will lose its ability to restrict Chinese imports.
But sources said the two sides made little progress in the Beijing talks, with the US insisting on tight quota restrictions on a broad range of imports until the end of 2008 and China offering looser restrictions on fewer categories until 2007. Beijing also wants assurances that the US would not impose additional quotas in the future.
The US textile industry accused China of refusing to negotiate seriously in the talks, in part because the problems in Europe may have persuaded Chinese officials that the US would not insist on tight quotas.
The EU and China succeeded on June 10 in reaching an agreement to limit exports over the next three years in 10 clothing categories, but that now risks falling apart because of the introduction of the new quotas.
Peter Mandelson, EU trade commissioner, last night resumed talks with Bo Xilai, Chinese trade minister, aimed at persuading Beijing to share the cost of dealing with the piles of unlicensed Chinese goods ordered by EU retailers but which ended up breaching the new quotas.
Mr Mandelson wants China to accept that some of the blocked garments should be included in the 2006 quotas, or shifted to one of the two remaining unfilled quotas: for cotton textiles or table linen. Yesterday he won agreement in principle from the 25 EU member states that there should be a speedy release of the blocked goods into the shops, but textile producers such as France, Italy, Spain and Portugal insisted the goods should not be additional to the quotas agreed on June 10.
Mr Mandelson will today put new proposals forward to the European Commission with an aim to resolving the issue with member states by the end of the week, to avoid the issue dominating next Monday's EU-China summit.
LOAD-DATE: August 31, 2005
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