China : US to raise probe over Chinese ''curtains'' with ''shirts'' to follow

The US Government is now likely to probe the import of the curtains from China, after imposing restrictions on certain textile categories.

However, the US delegation to the Sino-US Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade, held in Beijing on July 11, has promised to be prudent with further safeguard measures on textiles and garment products from China.

The US Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) announced the decision was made after a petition re-filed by a coalition of textile companies and a union representing US textile and clothing workers.

CITA will publish a notice seeking comments on the proposed safeguards.

The final decision of whether to impose curbs on Chinese curtains will be made within 60 days after the period for comments closes.

Liang Shiyu, an official with the China Chamber of Commerce for the Import and Export of Textiles, said China''s curtain exports to the United States have witnessed a mild growth in the past few months.

The US Government has introduced caps on eight categories of Chinese textile products since a decade-long quota regime on them was removed among all World Trade Organization members on January 1 this year.

But unlike these categories, quotas on curtains were lifted in 2002. This means that after a two-year cushioning period, the annual growth of China''s curtain exports to the United States declined from 181 per cent in 2002, to 30 per cent in the first four months this year.

In addition, the chamber has published a "red alert" warning Chinese textile manufacturers to stop exporting six categories of textile products to the United States.

The chamber said the US had shut its border to three categories of Chinese textiles and was likely to shut it against Chinese shirts of man-made fibre in a couple of days.

It quoted statistics from the China General Administration of Customs saying the clearance rate of trousers and men''s shirts had reached 87 per cent and 85 per cent of the quota for this year, respectively, by July 12.

"The enterprises will have to bear a large risk if they hope to export as much as possible by a ''fluke'' in the last few days before the US doors shut," the statement said.