WASHINGTON — U.S. trade officials said Thursday they will begin negotiations on a broad textile quota restraint agreement with China after receiving strong feedback in favor of such a deal from executives and politicians.
“In our numerous consultations with our domestic textile and apparel industries and members of Congress, we heard unambiguous calls for a more comprehensive approach to textile trade with China,” David Spooner, special textile negotiator with the U.S. Trade Representative’s office, said in a statement. “As a result, we will commence negotiations on a broad agreement with the Chinese.”
Spooner will lead an interagency government team comprising officials from the Commerce, State, Labor and Treasury departments in meetings with Chinese officials in San Francisco next week. The formal meetings, which will take place Tuesday and Wednesday at the Intercontinental Hotel there, stem from a consultation process initiated in May when the U.S. imposed safeguard quotas on $1.31 billion worth of Chinese apparel and textile imports.
U.S. retail, importer and textile executives and domestic trade groups all agree on the need for a broader agreement, but have vastly different perspectives on what the deal should contain.
Representatives from Wal-Mart, Jockey, Limited and Levi Strauss on the importer side, and National Spinning Co. on the textile side, plus several trade lobbying associations, are expected to be in San Francisco to provide input to U.S. negotiators.
The U.S. has been imposing China safeguards, which cap the growth of the targeted imported goods at 7.5 percent annually and are renewable through the end of 2008 on a category basis, but the process has created uncertainty throughout the supply chain for importers and forced domestic textile groups to undergo a lengthy review process before determinations are made and quotas imposed. Consequently, all sides are pressing for a more encompassing agreement with the Chinese that would offer more predictability.
Textile producers are generally seeking a deal that would cap the growth rate at 7.5 percent, last through 2008 and cover all categories in which petitions have been filed. In addition, they are pressing to reserve the right to invoke individual safeguards on products that are not covered by the broad agreement, but begin to surge into the U.S. market.
Related Articles
You May Also Like
Jim Chesnutt, president and chief executive officer of National Spinning Co. and chairman of the National Council of Textile Organizations, said he hopes the U.S. strikes a deal quickly with China before the beleaguered textile industry loses more jobs. He noted he was forced to close a plant on July 29 in North Carolina that employed more than 110 people and produced open-end colored acrylic yarns, primarily for the West Coast apparel market.
“We just want to slow this train down,” Chesnutt said. “This train is killing everyone and imports destroyed our market on the West Coast.”
Importers and retailers will likely press for higher quota growth rates, a shorter or equal time frame and higher quota levels for several apparel products currently under embargo.
“We think it’s good for the Chinese and U.S. governments to take a proactive approach to looking at the textile and apparel import situation from China,” said Beth Keck, director of international corporate affairs for Wal-Mart. “We hope that, through these discussions, we will see a balanced, comprehensive approach that will provide a very stable situation for all of us to work in.”
Keck said the safeguard process tended to be “more ad hoc,” which made it difficult to plan business.
“I think all of us in business need a certain level of predictability so we know the amounts we should be looking at from particular markets,” she said.