Three textile organisations and the trade union, UNITE HERE!, announced to the press on 22 September four further petitions have been placed with the US government in order to stem imports from China in five categories or apparel and textile.
Adding to the list of categories already under investigation by CITA, the petitions cover Wool Suits (443), MMF Coats (634/635), Cheesecloth (226) and Polyester Filament Fabric (619).
The announcement made by the organisations cited surging Chinese imports accounting for $487 million of the total $1.78 billion imports for these categories as the reason behind this latest industry move.
American Manufacturing Trade Coalition (AMTAC) Executive Director, Auggie Tantillo, did not mince his words regarding what he termed as their "aggressive" use of the WTO safeguard process.
"The US textile industry will keep filing safeguard petitions until all categories of interest to us are covered or the Chinese agree to a reasonable comprehensive agreement," he said.
"So far, China has not been serious about negotiating a deal," he added.
CITA is expected to make an announcement on 1 October regarding certain categories under investigation.
As reported in EmergingTextiles on 16 September, our calculations showed that the timing of safeguard measures will play a significant part on forecast embargo dates depending upon implementation before, or after, 1 October.
However, these new petitions will take 15 working days to be considered by CITA before accepting or rejecting the petitions.
If accepted, a 30 day public comment period commences followed by a 60 day maximum period in which CITA will be expected to make a final decision.
This would result in the petitions, if accepted, being implemented at the beginning of 2006.
Talks with China were scheduled to get underway on 26 September with the pressure of these safeguard petitions weighing upon the shoulders of the Chinese negotiators.
China was, nevertheless, confident of reaching a mutually beneficial deal.
"China and the US should reach an agreement as soon as possible," said Cao Xinyu, vice-chairman of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export Textiles.
"As a new ordering season is coming, both Chinese exporters and US importers expect a more explicit trade environment so that they can sign contracts for next year," he told China Daily.
During the last round of talks, both sides failed to agree upon product range, calculation base and the growth rate for quotas.
