China warns over textile tariffs
China says that it will scrap recently agreed plans to increase export tariffs on textiles should the European Union and US also impose quotas on imports.
Relations between the trading partners have frayed, with China accused of flooding markets with cheap textiles.
To ease the situation, China agreed to raise export tariffs on goods in 74 categories by as much as five times.
That may not be enough, however, and EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson will meet Chinese officials late on Tuesday.
Priced to sell
The clash has been exacerbated by US claims that China is deliberately keeping its currency undervalued in an attempt to boost exports.
China has been quick to lay out its negotiating position with regard to the threatened import quotas or safeguard measures.
"If the US and the EU formally carry out restrictions on any of these categories, we will not impose tariffs on the items in question," the Commerce Ministry said.
Foreign buyer looking at clothes in China
Shoppers tend to care more about price than the implications for trade
The EU been careful in its approach to China and has said it wants to work with Beijing in finding a solution.
It is planning to launch formal consultations with China under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules relating to the import of T-shirts and flax-yarn.
"We want to analyse (China's tariff increases) in detail to measure their likely impact, and to explore whether an agreed solution is possible, rather than the imposition of safeguard measures," Mr Mandelson said on Monday.
Time limit
Under WTO rules, the EU could impose import limits within 15 days of the formal start of negotiations if China fails to curb its exports.
The US has already imposed limits on Chinese imports, claiming that its textile industry has lost more than 16,000 jobs since the start of this year.
Tensions surfaced after the Multi-Fibre Agreement, which governed the global textile trade, was replaced by a new system at the start of this year.
Following its entry into the WTO in 2002, China agreed to allow countries to impose limits on imports for three years should markets become distorted.
According to figures from the US and EU, imports from China have surged since January and are now putting pressure on local producers.
news.bbc.co.uk
==========================================================
China threatens to renege on tariff promise if textile limits are imposed
China has threatened to renege on a promise to impose tariffs on 74 categories of textile products if the same items were subject to limits from US and European governments.
"If the United States and the European Union formally carry out restrictions on any of these categories, we will not impose tariffs on the items in question," a commerce ministry official told AFP.
China on Friday made a conciliatory gesture to the United States and European Union to ease simmering trade tensions, announcing it would raise export tariffs on 74 categories of textile products from June 1.
The ministry of finance said that the 74 categories were among 148 products on which tariffs had already been placed at the end of the decades-long global textile export quota system on January 1.
koreaherald.co.kr |
