Trade Friction Europe And America Want To Join The Sino Mexico Textile And Clothing Subsidy Measures

Recently, from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, the EU is stationed in the WTO.

On the basis of article 4.11 of the understanding on rules and procedures for dispute settlement, the delegation submitted an application to China and Mexico's WTO delegation and the dispute settlement body to join the consultation process on the Sino Mexico textile and garment subsidy measures.

The application was officially announced to all members of WTO in October 29th.

It is reported that in 2011,

It is the second largest exporter of textile and clothing products in the world with an export volume of 115 billion euros, so it has substantial trade interests in the case.

At the same time, the United States

Clothing industry agencies also urged the US government to support Mexico's lawsuit against China.

The National Committee of the Textile Organization of the United States (NCTO) has also contacted other industrial associations, including central and Latin American countries, urging the government to support the lawsuit in Mexico.

It is worth noting that the National Committee of the Textile Organization of the United States has also approached the relevant industry associations of the European Union and said that the subsidies China provides for the textile and garment industry has great influence on the European Union.

Successive attacks on textiles

It is understood that the United States Textile Organization National Committee in the application to the United States government said that in the Western Hemisphere, the impact of Chinese products larger countries, including Mexico, Dominica, Guatemala, Honduras, Salvatore and Columbia.

At the same time, the Committee further pointed out that, from 2001 to 2011, although the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) had enjoyed preferential tariff treatment for Mexico products, China remained the largest importer of textiles and clothing products in the United States.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce of China, the export volume of China's textile and clothing to the EU has been declining since the beginning of this year.

From January to August, the total imports of textiles and clothing from the EU totaled 25 billion 630 million US dollars, down 14.7%, and the decline was more than the average.

The share of Chinese products in the EU market dropped to 38.2%, down 0.4% from the same period last year.

Among them, clothing accounted for 39.5%, down 1.4% from the same period last year.

ASEAN countries' share in the EU textile and apparel market has risen to 8%, an increase of 0.6% over the same period last year.

According to statistics from Mexico, from 2001 to 2011, Mexico's textile and clothing exports to the United States dropped from 8 billion 300 million US dollars to 4 billion US dollars, a drop of 48.3%.

From 2001 to August 2012, China's total exports of textiles and clothing to the United States increased from 4 billion 600 million US dollars to US $29 billion 200 million, and the US market share rose from 8% to 38%.

Wang Tianlong, an associate researcher of China International Economic Exchange Center, said that the recent increase in foreign trade protection measures against China has a lot to do with global economic growth.

The economic downturn has led some major developed economies, such as the European Union and the United States, to reduce domestic demand and increase the unemployment rate. In order to protect domestic enterprises and increase employment opportunities, they will naturally adopt trade protection measures to increase the entry threshold of other countries.

In October 15, 2012, Mexico appealed to the WTO dispute settlement body on China's subsidies for textiles and clothing.

This is the first WTO dispute case that has been filed directly against China's textile and clothing subsidies so far.

"Unlike developed countries, the purpose of launching trade relief litigation for Chinese products by emerging economies is to create favorable market conditions for their industries and reduce their dependence on foreign countries, which also makes it more extensive and more resolute to use trade remedy measures to attack."

An official of the Fair Trade Bureau of China's Ministry of Commerce said in an interview with reporters.

Manufacturing industry faces upgrading

As the first batch of Chinese products to open the door to overseas markets, textiles have been popular for "cheap and good quality".

Today, textiles have become the weapons of international trade protectionism against "made in China", resulting in many domestic related export enterprises caught in the "trade war" and it is difficult to get away in the short term.

The statistical reports obtained from the China Federation of textile industry (hereinafter referred to as China Textile Union) show that in the first half of this year, China's textile and clothing export products are still the main targets of Global trade protection, and the new technical barriers to trade introduced by Europe and the United States have seriously affected the export of Chinese textile and clothing products.

The report points out that since the beginning of this year, the US government has continuously introduced a number of trade protection measures, including the establishment of an inter departmental trade enforcement center, which will enforce the third party inspection and certification requirements for children's products, lead the implementation of new standards for the export of children's products to the United States, etc. Mexico has also revised the labeling standards for textiles and clothing; the EU's new regulations on textile labels have been formally implemented in May.

The introduction of these standards and regulations has made the export of Chinese textile and clothing products face greater cost pressures and trade risks.

In response, the Ministry of Commerce reminded domestic and foreign trade enterprises to deal rationally with trade frictions.

On the one hand, by changing the way of foreign trade development, we should speed up pformation and upgrading, enhance the core competitiveness of the industry, raise the price of products, jump out of the circle of low price competition, and change "win the price" to "win by quality".

On the other hand, we should standardize the internal financial and management processes, train professionals to deal with trade conflicts, establish and improve the early warning mechanism and quick response mechanism of trade friction, so as to avoid the situation of being caught off guard when encountering trade frictions.