China said today that it will up tariffs on 74 categories of textile exports in response to protectionist action by the US and EU to curb the increase in Chinese exports.

The Chinese Ministry of Finance said that tariffs would be increased on 74 different textiles, beginning on 1 June.

Most of the categories – which include trousers, T-shirts and underwear - will be subject to an increase of 1 yuan per unit from 0.2 yuan, with the largest tariff being 4 yuan.

"The decision was approved by the State Council”, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

China originally introduced tax of 0.2-0.3 yuan per item on 148 different types of textiles on 1 January in response to fears that its cheap exports would flood the world market after global quotas expired on the same date.

The US Commerce Department this week announced its second lot of safeguard quotas on Chinese textile exports, while the EU is stepping up threats to impose similar restrictions after Chinese imports surged since the start of 2005.

Regularly updated trade statistics on AGOA.info include (Click to follow the links):