20 May 2005

Importers slam China curbs

The following article is excerpted from the 19 May 2005 edition of “The Journal of Commerce”.

The United States Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel said that the U.S. government "rushed to take advantage" of an appellate court decision that will permit the U.S. to reimpose quotas on an assortment of Chinese-made products.

"This outrageous and unjustified action only proves how right the importers were to go to court to challenge the textile program," said USA-ITA Executive Director Laura E. Jones…

The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements on Wednesday said it will act before the end of the month to reimpose quotas on men's and boys' woven shirts, man-made fiber pants, manmade fiber knit shirts, and cotton yarns. …

"These restrictions on imports from China will do absolutely nothing to help the U.S. textile industry -- and the government knows it," said Jones. "There is no merit to the charge that products of China create a threat of market disruption. The U.S. import data uniformly shows only that there are shifts among foreign suppliers to the U.S. market, and particularly shifts within Asia." …