The United States hopes for a fair deal with China to regulate textiles trade but will "walk away" from a bad one, US Trade Representative Rob Portman said Thursday.

Speaking after talks in Beijing a week ago failed to find a breakthrough to the simmering row, Portman said there were still grounds for hope.

"I'm optimistic about the comprehensive agreement with China because it's good for China," he told reporters.

"It would add certainty to an uncertain next three years," he said. Current US safeguards against Chinese textile imports allowed by the World Trade Organisation are due to expire in 2008.

"On the other hand, absolutely the United States government would walk away from a bad deal," Portman said, adding that Washington would not "negotiate away" trade protections allowed it by the WTO.

To the anger of US and European textiles producers, Chinese garment exports have rocketed since a global quota system was abolished on January 1 in line with WTO guidelines to liberalise the trade.

The European Union and China on Monday signed a "fair and equitable" deal to end a costly impasse that left millions of Chinese-made garments blocked at European ports and strained relations.

Millions of Chinese clothes and textiles were impounded at EU ports because they exceeded import quotas agreed by both sides in June as part of a deal that narrowly averted a trade war.