China-US textiles deal comes into effect
Afp, Beijing
A deal to limit the export of Chinese textiles and apparel to the US market, hammered out in three months of tough talks between Washington and Beijing, was due to come into effect on Sunday. The agreement provides for a progressive increase in the Chinese imports until 2008 but would still cap their growth at far less than seen in 2005. Some imports, such as cotton trousers, had surged by more than 1,000 percent. The deal covers more than five billion dollars' worth of Chinese imports and could help shore up a US textiles industry that has lost nearly 400,000 jobs since 2001, in part due to fierce Chinese competition. China's textiles exports accelerated in 2005 year after a global quota system was scrapped last January. In the absence of a comprehensive deal, the United States had been resorting to cumbersome quotas, or so-called safeguards, that will now be replaced by the caps set up under the new accord. The three-year deal was signed in November. For apparel categories, it provides for annual growth rates in Chinese exports of 10 percent in 2006, 12.5 percent in 2007 and 15 percent in 2008. For textile products, the rates are 12.5 percent in 2006 and 2007, and 16 percent in 2008.
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