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United States: Govt Approves Four More Safeguards On China

Published date:
Thursday, 19 May 2005

Less than a week after announcing the re-imposition of quotas on three categories of Chinese textile products, the US Commerce Department on Wednesday instituted so-called safeguard measures on another four product groups.

The latest measures cover men’s and boys’ cotton and manmade fibre shirts (category 340/640), manmade fibre trousers (category 647/648), manmade fibre knit shirts and blouses (category 638/639), and combed cotton yarn (category 301) – worth around $914 million in imports from China.

The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) said in a statement that it has determined that imports of these products from China are threatening to disrupt US markets.

The US can now set a 7.5 per cent cap on import growth of those products this month – although it must first request consultations with China.

The United States and China then have 90 days to consult and try to reach an agreement on limiting the growth of Chinese exports to the United States in these categories.

If no agreement is reached, the United States can maintain the 7.5 per cent growth limit through the end of calendar year 2005.

US commerce secretary Carlos Gutierrez said in a statement that the Administration would “enforce our trade agreements to ensure that US companies get a fair deal as they compete in the global marketplace.”

According to the US Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA), through April 2005 the volume of US imports from China in the four categories affected by the latest announcement surged: 287 per cent in MMF trousers, 364 per cent in MMF shirts, 293 per cent in non-knit shirts, and 78 per cent in combed cotton yarn.

On 13 May CITA decided to invoke safeguards on textile imports from China in the following categories: cotton knit shirts and blouses (category 338/339), cotton trousers (category 347/348), and cotton and manmade fibre underwear (category 352/652).

The US textile industry currently has six other safeguard cases pending government approval.



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