The Hindu : Business : U.S. quota on more Chinese apparel

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 20, 2005

Business

Business

U.S. quota on more Chinese apparel

Beijing raises rates on dollar deposits

WASHINGTON: The U.S. government on Wednesday slapped quotas on an additional four categories of Chinese textile goods to curb a surge in imports.

The move came after the government's Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) said last week it was taking action against three types of Chinese textiles in a major escalation of a simmering trade row.

The four categories now subject to quotas are: men's and boys' cotton and man-made fibre shirts (not knit); man-made fibre trousers; man-made fibre-knit shirts and blouses; and combed cotton yarn.

In Beijing, the Chinese Commerce Minister, Bo Xilai, on Wednesday called the quotas "unfair'' and criticised the U.S. for blaming China for the fast growth of Chinese textiles in their markets. Bo said that it was an "unwise'' move of the U.S. to re-impose quotas on apparel imports from China.

In a meeting with the President of the US Chamber of Commerce, Thomas Donohue, Mr. Bo said China was in strong opposition to such a decision made by the U.S., which had failed to abide by the spirit of free trade encouraged by the U.S. itself. "We should not spoil the overall situation for some trivial matters,'' he said.

China appealed to the U.S. to settle the raging dispute over textile exports through talks instead of resorting to unilaterally imposed quotas. "No side should take unilateral actions,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said. ``We hope the U.S. side could solve relevant problems through dialogue and in a constructive manner,'' he said.

Meanwhile China raised the deposit interest rate of U.S. dollar and Hong Kong dollar as of May 20. According to The People's Bank of China, China's central bank, the upper limit of the interest rate for one-year U.S. dollar deposits will increase by 0.25 percentage points to 1.125 per cent. . The move came a day after China started trading eight new foreign currency pairs but excluded the Chinese currency, renminbi. — AFP, PTI

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