An agreement reached in June imposed quotas on cheap Chinese imports into Europe to protect European textile producers. But it has resulted in a pileup of Chinese-made sweaters, pants, bras and other garments at European ports.
EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson on Wednesday acknowledged there had been a "serious glitch" in the agreement's implementation.
The EU team was expected to seek changes to the accord that could bring forward 2006 or 2007 quotas to ease the holdup of imports.
"It is a good opportunity to discuss the textile agreement and textile problems in Beijing, where the textile agreement has been born," said Fritz-Harald Wenig, head of the European trade team. Wenig made his comment in Beijing ahead of a meeting with Lu Jianhua, the head of the Foreign Trade Department of China's Ministry of Commerce.
The official China Daily newspaper said in an editorial Thursday that the flawed agreement should serve as a lesson to the EU that protectionist steps, which seem politically correct in the short term, would be damaging to consumers and companies in the long run.
"The EU experience is also useful for the United States, where protectionism is even more rampant, particularly in the textiles sector," the paper said.
The United States is now hammering out an agreement on temporary textile quotas with Beijing. Cheap Chinese clothing imports have been a boon to American consumers, but have battered U.S. manufacturers.
U.S. negotiators said after two days of talks in San Francisco last week that an agreement was within reach and could be accomplished with one more bargaining session.
Some cheap Chinese clothing imports have been blocked from entering the EU after six textile categories exceeded European trade limits in July and August.
Shirts, bras and flax yarn have now joined sweaters, men's trousers and blouses in overrunning EU quota limits for 2005 that China agreed to in June.
China's textile exports have risen sharply since permanent quotas were abolished on Jan. 1, 2005 -- three years after it joined the World Trade Organization.
