Global textile group blasts EU-China apparel deal

Global textile group blasts EU-China apparel deal    The Global Alliance for Fair Textile Trade (GAFTT), comprising 97 trade groups representing domestic textile and apparel manufacturers in 55 countries, has criticized the increased market access given to China in the renegotiated European Union (EU)-China textile deal announced on Sept. 5.
   The EU-China accommodation is expected to allow all textile and clothing goods from China being held in embargo at European ports to be released immediately into the EU market. The first 50 percent of the embargoed goods will not count against quota limits of any kind. The remaining half will count against quotas imposed on China in 2006.
   “GAFTT opposes any deal allowing Chinese products into the European Union in excess of quota limits where the quota is not entirely repaid,” GAFTT said in a statement.
   “In this case, 50 percent of what is released into the EU market will not be paid. This is business taken from legitimate manufacturers — both from inside the European Union and outside — and it is being given to a country that refuses to play by the rules,” said Ziya Sukun, executive director of ITKIB Association USA and a GAFTT founding member.
   “Granting China additional access to the EU market over an embargo crisis simply rewards China for its own irresponsibility,” said Auggie Tantillo, executive director of the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition (AMTAC), which is also a member of GAFTT.