US to set quotas on China's Textile Imports

[La_Serpiente]

Have you noticed a pattern here? First the EU and now China. I think the Bush administration has a plan and it doesn't smell right. I think they are trying to change the international framework of trade in a weird way.

I am all for trade and all, and in fact I would like it if there were labor and environental standards put into trade treaties. But this really doesn't smell right. It is not that I am against them, it is just that I don't trust this administration.
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U.S. to Set Quotas on China Textile Imports

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration has decided to set new quotas on imports of Chinese clothing to stop a surge of shipments, U.S. Commerce Undersecretary Grant Aldonas announced on Tuesday.

Aldonas said that under trade rules with China, the United States can cap China's exports of brassieres, knit fabrics and dressing gowns at 7.5 percent above shipments over the past year or so. During that time, China's exports of the textile products have surged.

Putting the quota in perspective, Aldonas said, "There's a sense there's some sort of Draconian reduction (in imports). In fact what it does is ... identify the degree of imports that have already come in and allow some growth on top."

Aldonas told reporters the United States will hold consultations with China though the talks have not yet been scheduled. Those consultations could result in a change to the quotas, Aldonas said.

more...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031118/bs_nm/trade_china_textiles_dc

[Don_G]

1. Just Temporary

And in all probability until the elections next year. He can't have all those nasty "Dems" in North Carolina to actually vote Democratic, can he?

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

7. So Bush can run as pro-jobs

against the "free trade" Democrats who of course want to trade with communist China. The election is ours to lose, the more Democrats give us boilerplate bullshit about the glorious globalized future, the more swing voters will lose.

All the Greens need is a telegenic celebrity candidate...

[kcwayne]

2. This is a finger in the dike

The move is a meaningless wave of the hand to try and suggest they are doing something about the mass export of all industry in the US to China.

China's economy is state run, and therefor centrally planned. So what will they do if they cannot grow exports in textiles at the rate they were hoping? They will focus on another industry that doesn't have the tarrifs, and start the slaughter there.

Americans simply must wake up to this threat. We cannot have an economy here if every industry is being decimated by the need to use slave labor to create products cheap enough to fit on the shelfs at Wal-Mart.

[madrchsod]

3. what!!!!

no "faded glory" at walmart? my god what will all the flag waving walmartians do without their faded glory and chinesse made ol`e glory american flags

[Spazito]

4. Not smart, take a look at this article re China and the US dollar...

Dollar Retreats on China Trade Fears

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The dollar tumbled on Tuesday as the euro surged to new record high after the U.S. Commerce Department (news - web sites) said it would cap imports of Chinese clothing, fueling fears that protectionism could undermine a nascent U.S. recovery.


The euro surged to above $1.1932 against the dollar, up over 1 percent on the day. The greenback also lost more than 1 percent in value versus the Swiss franc and extended its decline against the Australian dollar.


"The dollar's weakness stems from many factors. The China news is one of them," said Andrew Busch, global FX strategist at BMO Nesbitt Burns in Chicago.


"It is great electioneering rhetoric, but the import quotas will not stem the tide of Chinese textile imports... nor any other imports from China," he added.

more

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=568&e=5&u=/nm/markets_forex_dc

[kodi]

5. $50B in china textile imports, 1/2 from chinese companies losing $

these are state supported companies which could not compete in the "free" market. the chinese government is subsidizing the export boom to the US.

as part of the US-China trade negotiations this is not supposed to be allowed, but it took the bush administration 2 years to act upon this knowledge that the chinese were breaking the trade agreement.

attacking the busheviks for trade agreements that do not include fair labor practices or environmental issues is fine by me, but the busheviks are not even holding our trade partners to their current committments without these provisions.

[Jacobin]

6. Cheap, meaningless political trick prior to 2004 elections and

a violation of WTO agreements to boot.

[KoKo]

8. I agree it's thrown at the South, but it won't bring the jobs back and

people here aren't so naive as to realize what he's doing.

BTW: if you read the whole article, they talk about a dumping recently of clothing made in China. I noticed that in the last month in all the major stores in my area. In fact one of my local department stores has so many clothes on racks in disorder that it looks like the Salvation Army or Goodwill Thrift stores. They have discount of 70% because there are so many clothes and they are all over the floors and falling off the shelves. It's Kohls Department Store which used to be a really neat store with nice merchandise. It's a disaster, and the quality of the clothes are really pretty bad. Mostly acrylic and polyester, and the same cloths in colors and fabrics under different labels are in Penneys, Dress Barn, Belks, Hects and Target. Go figure that one! But, it's the worst I've ever seen, and I'm a shopper so I notice this kind of stuff.

[HFishbine]

11. Agree KoKo

The problems with the textile industry in the south are systemic. Limiting the GROWTH of Chinese imports won't make a dent. There's still too much competitive presure from Indonesia, the Carribean, Pakistan and India. The problem lacks what Bush has shown himslef incapable of at every turn -- a well-thought-out plan.

Without a plan for creating jobs in the South, the limit on Chinese imports will be an ineffective drop in the bucket that will not stem job losses.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

13. and what is the systemic problems of the textile industry in the south?

The only systemic problem is the Americans get paid too much money, and there are too many environmental and labor protections - trade barriers.

Solution? Either lower wages and labor/environmental protections to the level of communist China, or export the jobs to communist China.

Which do you think is best?

[HFishbine]

14. Can I

answer your original question, or must I pick one of your two wrong answers?

[rucky]

12. Goodbye China....Hello India

n/t

[Beetwasher]

9. Potential Trade Wars W/ China AND Europe

Coupled with a VERY weak dollare means very, very bad news for the US economy...

[RandomUser]

10. Another case of politics over policy

Bush tried the same thing with the steel tarriffs, and is eating crow already. He put steel tarriffs in place against Europe to help out the steel workers in PA and win that swing state's votes in 2004 -- ended up savaging the economies of two other states dependent on cheap steel. His election driven move resulted in a net loss of jobs from the steel tarriffs.

Let's hope this textile move doesn't repeat the pattern and cause even more job losses.