U.S. textile manufacturers file for nine China safeguard extensions

U.S. textile manufacturers file for nine China safeguard extensions    Three associations of U.S. textile and apparel manufacturers and one labor union have filed petitions to extend for another year nine U.S. safeguards covering 16 categories of imported apparel products from China.
   'This action on behalf of the U.S. textile industry is a signal that the industry will aggressively utilize the World Trade Organization (WTO) safeguard process to the fullest degree possible,' said Auggie Tantillo, executive director of the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition (AMTAC), one of the groups applying for the extensions. 'It is critical that the U.S. government approve these cases in a timely manner to prevent China from surging into the U.S. market in 2006 as it did in 2005.'
   The other filers were the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO), the National Textile Association (NTA), and the labor union Unite Here!
   The petitions to extend safeguards were filed with the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements. CITA has up to 15 working days to accept or reject the petitions. If CITA accepts the petitions, a 30-day period of public comment follows, and then a 60-day CITA decision-making window. If CITA doesn't act on a particular petition for refiling, then that safeguard will expire at the end of 2005.
   As part of China's accession agreement to the WTO, other WTO members may impose annual safeguards on Chinese textile and apparel imports through 2008, if those nations can show that clothing from China flooded their markets to the detriment of their own domestic textile manufacturers.
   'Over the last seven months, China has mounted the biggest export surge in history. U.S. imports from China in the apparel safeguard categories grew by 850 million garments, an average increase of 627 percent. According to United Nations trade databases, Chinese prices for these and other major apparel items are on average 58 percent below the prices other countries charge.' AMTAC said in a statement.
   U.S. domestic manufacturers were forced to reapply for the nine safeguard extensions because, in their view, 'China has shown little serious interest thus far in negotiating a comprehensive textile agreement' that would cover the remaining time until the end of 2008, AMTAC explained.
   The nine petitions that were filed would extend 2005's safeguards on the following textile and apparel goods: cotton knit shirts, which accounted for 9 percent of the U.S. import market in 2005, up 8 percent from 2004 (categories 338/339); woven shirts, market share 20 percent, up 14 percent (340/640); cotton trousers, market share 17 percent, up 16 percent (347/348); brassieres, market share 43 percent, up 9 percent (349/649); underwear, market share 11 percent, up 9 percent (352/652); man-made fiber knit shirts, market share 18 percent, up 14 percent (638/639); man-made fiber trousers, market share 19 percent, up 15 percent (647/648); combed cotton yarn, market share f4 percent, up 1 percent (301), and synthetic filament fabric, market share 16 percent, up 14 percent (620).
   'The U.S. textile industry also intends to file additional safeguards petitions covering fabrics, apparel and home furnishings products in the very near future,' Tantillo said.
   U.S. apparel importers, who expected the domestic manufacturers' refiling of this year's safeguards, were nonetheless scathing in their comments about the petitions for extensions. 'Today's latest round of filings is not only unwarranted, it is useless. No matter how many times the domestic industry associations seek restrictions on Chinese-made apparel, not one manufacturing job is going to come back here,' said Laura E. Jones, executive director of the United States Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel (USA-ITA).
   Jones cited the potential negative impact of more quotas and higher prices on clothing, given recent reports of weak sales in stores across the country. 'If U.S. consumers stop buying, the entire economy will pay the price,' she said.
   Negotiators for the United States and China have met four times to fashion an agreement that would temporarily limit imports of textiles and clothing made in China. A fifth round is expected before the end of September
   'The two sides appear far apart,' USA-ITA said in a statement.
   'No agreement is better than an unfair agreement,' said Karl Spilhaus, president of the National Textile Association.