The trade deal was to be announced Tuesday by U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman and Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai in London.
Cass Johnson, president of the National Council of Textile Organizations, was among industry officials briefed on the agreement ahead of the announcement. He said it meets the industry's key demands for protection against a flood of Chinese imports.
"It looks like this is a very good deal for the U.S. textile industry," said Johnson, whose group represents U.S. textile firms. "Our objectives were tight limits on our sensitive categories and expanded product coverage. The U.S. government achieved both of those results."
U.S. government officials would not discuss the plan's details, but industry officials briefed on it said the agreement will take effect Jan. 1 and last through the end of 2008, one year longer than a similar deal China reached earlier this year with the European Union.
The deal would cover 34 clothing and textile categories including 14 that the U.S. industry considers the most sensitive because there is still significant U.S. production. These include trousers, shirts, underwear and bras.
Industry officials said the deal would allow an increase in Chinese shipments next year of 10 percent for clothing products and 12.5 percent for textiles covered by the agreement. In 2007, the increase for most categories would be 12.5 percent and in 2008 the increase for categories deemed sensitive would be 15 percent, with other categories allowed growth of 16 percent to 17 percent.
U.S. textile and apparel companies and their labor unions have been pushing for a comprehensive deal to stem a deluge of Chinese imports that began last January when global quotas that had been in place for over three decades were lifted. U.S. manufacturers say this year's imports have cost thousands of American jobs.
The Bush administration has been reimposing quotas, known as "safeguards," for individual categories of clothing and textiles. The industry wanted a comprehensive deal covering all threatened categories of U.S. production and lasting for three years. The safeguard quotas, which capped annual growth at 7.5 percent, had to be renewed each year.
U.S. retailers have said they would reluctantly go along with a comprehensive deal as long as the growth in imports was sufficient to let them obtain reliable supplies.
This year many of the safeguard quotas filled up so quickly that retailers were left scrambling to find alternate sources of supply.
The Bush administration is trying to curb a swelling trade deficit with China, which last year hit $162 billion, the largest imbalance ever recorded with a single country, and could approach $200 billion this year.
In addition to negotiations over a surge in textile and clothing shipments, the administration has been lobbying China to go further in allowing its currency, the yuan, to rise in value against the U.S. dollar. American manufacturers contend the yuan is undervalued by as much as 40 percent, making Chinese goods cheaper in the United States and America goods more expensive in China.
China is also being pressured to crack down on rampant piracy of American movies, computer software and other copyrighted goods.
President Bush is scheduled to arrive in China on Nov. 19 for the start of an official visit.
