China'S "Spinning Clothes" Will Face Three Obstacles

According to the Sino US bilateral agreement, the US limit on Chinese textiles will be officially ended by December 31, 2008.

But the prospect of textile trade liberalization in China and the United States is uncertain. The domestic textile industry will take measures to prevent Chinese textiles from pouring into the United States after 2008.

According to the analysis of the China Textile Import and Export Chamber of Commerce, it is believed that next year, China's textile products will face three major obstacles, namely, countervailing, anti-dumping and 421 special safeguard clauses.

Socks will be the focus of anti-dumping monitoring.

The relevant person in charge of the chamber of commerce thinks that the possibility of the United States to launch countervailing investigations against Chinese textiles and clothing is increasing.

So far, there is no countervailing case specifically for textile and clothing products, but the National Textile Organization has always expressed the interest of the US apparel industry in launching the case.

In addition, in January 2007, the United States launched an import monitoring plan for 5 categories of clothing products in Vietnam, which ended in January 19, 2009.

In the meantime, if the Department of Commerce has found any abnormal growth, it can independently launch anti-dumping investigations against Vietnam. The US textile industry and government regard this anti-dumping investigation measure as a preview of the corresponding measures for China's textile and clothing products. The focus of monitoring in China will be placed in the current restriction category, especially socks.

The US Congress is also actively promoting the matter, but whether such monitoring measures will lead to anti-dumping cases against China is uncertain.

In the face of numerous obstacles to the US textile industry, the chamber of Commerce suggested that Chinese textile and garment enterprises should pay close attention to the trend of textile trade between China and the United States, maintain close ties with importers and brands, and make corresponding preparations ahead of schedule.