U.S. and Chinese negotiators failed to reach an agreement on Wednesday to stem China's surging exports of low-cost clothing to the United States but U.S. officials said the two sides were continuing to talk.
Negotiators had hoped to strike a deal so it could be blessed by presidents Hu Jintao and George W. Bush when they meet at the White House next Wednesday.
Cass Johnson, president of the U.S. National Council of Textile Organizations, told Reuters that negotiators had not even narrowed their differences during two days of talks.
"People thought there was a good chance of an agreement coming out of these meetings but it's clear the Chinese government was not interested in moving off its position -- and neither was the U.S. government," said Johnson, one of several U.S. lobbyists who have been tracking the talks in Beijing.
But Neena Moorjani, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative's office in Washington, said Johnson's assertion that the talks were over was premature.
"The United States and China continue to hold discussions on textiles trade in Beijing," Moorjani said. "Negotiating teams from both countries are set to reconvene talks at 8:30 a.m. (Thursday morning) in Beijing."
U.S. and Chinese officials have now met four times since Washington imposed emergency curbs, known as safeguards, in May to restrain a burst of Chinese exports unleashed by the abolition of global textile quotas on January 1.
Meanwhile, U.S. industry groups still were waiting to hear if the Bush administration would unilaterally restrict more imports of Chinese clothing using the special mechanism allowed under World Trade Organization rules.
The Bush administration had been scheduled to decide by Wednesday on industry requests for emergency restrictions on six more categories of Chinese clothing and textiles, including bras, sweaters, dressing gowns and knit fabric.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. Commerce Department still had not announced any decision on those requests.
U.S. textiles groups said they were prepared to file more safeguard requests next week, if no deal is reached.
The five Bush administration officials who comprise the interagency textile committee responsible for making the decision apparently are all in Beijing for the negotiations, industry officials said.
FRAYING AGREEMENT
China's textile exports to the United States surged 97 percent to $7.4 billion in the first six months, setting alarm bells ringing in textile-producing states and heightening wider fears about China's growing economic clout. The United States had a $162 billion trade deficit with China last year.
Negotiators had been eyeing a deal similar to one signed with the European Union on June 10 that capped growth in 10 lines of textile exports at 8 percent to 12.5 percent a year.
China went along because the EU would have been permitted under World Trade Organization rules to limit growth in China's textile exports to 7.5 percent a year until the end of 2008.
That deal has since run into trouble as the new quotas were quickly filled, leaving a pile-up of more than 80 million made-in-China bras, blouses and sweaters at EU customs posts.
Industry officials said earlier that the obstacles in the way of a Sino-American agreement included the length of any pact, the categories it would cover, how much Chinese exports would be allowed to grow each year and the right of the United States to impose new safeguard restrictions in the future.
U.S. clothing importers have pushed for a liberal agreement leading the way for quota-free trade after 2008. But Brenda Jacobs, an attorney representing the import sector, said the United States appears to want a highly restrictive deal limiting as many as 40 categories of Chinese clothing.
