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To: RealMuLan who wrote (41794)	11/20/2003 3:36:51 AM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

When I worked in Indonesia, my friend told me they imported cotton into Bandung, produced the indigo blue fabric. shipped it to Macau for cutting, send by train to southern China to sew and export as made in China. Chinese knows how to exploit these things.

To: RealMuLan who wrote (41794)	11/20/2003 8:35:56 AM
From: BubbaFred	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

China to Raise Tariffs on U.S. Goods Thursday November 20, 4:55 am ET By Scott Hillis BEIJING (Reuters) - China will raise tariffs on some American imports, the Commerce Ministry said on Thursday, in a step that comes just days after a fresh trade spat sparked by a U.S. move to cap imports of selected Chinese textiles. I'm a ManWoman seeking a WomanMan Enter city or ZIP Age: to Show only profiles with photos "The Chinese side will raise import tariffs on some commodities imported from the United States and we are currently studying relevant plans," Vice Commerce Minister Ma Xiuhong told the official Xinhua news agency. Putting some distance between the announcement and the U.S. move on textiles, Ma said the new tariffs were in response to U.S. duties on steel imports enacted a year and a half ago -- duties that the World Trade Organization (WTO) has recently ruled illegal. She did not elaborate and a ministry spokesman said details of the new duties were still being worked out. Simmering tensions between the world's biggest and fifth biggest trade nations flared on Tuesday when Washington said it would cap imports of Chinese knit fabrics, bras and gowns. Angry at the move, China summoned the U.S. ambassador to Beijing late on Wednesday, telling him it was "shocked and dissatisfied," Xinhua said. Harsher words followed as the official China Daily accused the United States of cheap point-scoring, and said the imports caps would not fix the huge trade imbalance. "The cheap political points the Bush administration scored by touting trade protectionism will prove costly for U.S. consumers as well as global trade," the newspaper said on Thursday. "SHORT-SIGHTED PROTECTIONISM" Earlier on Thursday, a Commerce Ministry spokesman said China could retaliate but wanted to take part in talks that are part of the process for invoking the tariff measures included in China's entry package for the WTO. "I think we will definitely go into such talks to make clear our position," the spokesman said. He gave no further details. A foreign ministry spokesman said the problem should be resolved through friendly negotiation. "We also oppose problems that occur in the field of trade relations being politicised," he said. The U.S. move appeared to blindside China, said Tai Hui, an economist with Standard Chartered in Hong Kong. "The fact that China bought 30 Boeing jets from the U.S. plus GE engines, that established some goodwill," Hui said, referring to a $1.7 billion aviation deal signed earlier this month. After the import caps -- which will affect less than five percent of Chinese textile exports to the United States -- were announced, China postponed two delegations to buy U.S. soybeans, wheat and cotton. China said the cancellations were due to visa and scheduling problems, but many traders and analysts said they suspected links to the fresh trade row. The delegations had been part of a Chinese effort to soothe tensions over a yawning trade surplus with the United States, which U.S. estimates see growing 20 percent this year to $120 billion. The China Daily said Washington had "stubbornly resorted to short-sighted protectionism." "Mounting U.S. protectionism against China is by no means a solution to the exploding U.S. trade deficit," it said. TESTING THE WATERS The U.S. textile industry says it has lost more than 300,000 jobs since early 2001 and has blamed much of that on soaring imports from China, which has emerged as a global textile force since it joined the World Trade Organization in December 2001. The trade imbalance has become a hot political issue ahead of the 2004 presidential elections. "Going forward you have lots of potential for things to go wrong," Standard Chartered's Hui said. "It certainly does put a lot more pressure on the political aspect of the relationship." But the spat was also largely symbolic, recalling similar high-profile but small-stakes rows between Japan and China over Chinese exports of shitake mushrooms and spring onions. "The U.S. is trying to test the waters and get China to say yes to some other U.S. demands like better intellectual property protection and opening up to agricultural products," Hui said. The textile caps would limit imports at 7.5 percent above the level over the previous year or so, and will take effect only after three months. (Additional reporting by Kevin Yao) biz.yahoo.com