The National Trade Estimate Report release by the Office of the United States Trade Representative has covered the subject of China textiles as follows.
"China claimed the measures were needed to avoid uncertainty among Chinese textile exporting firms, to encourage exports of high value added items and to avoid rent seeking in license distributions.
Under the June 2005 measures, MOFCOM, China Customs and AQSIQ jointly issued and made adjustments to a catalogue of subject items, listed by tariff codes, destination countries and regions, implementing periods and total licensed export quantities of subject items. Included in the catalogue were textile products subject to foreign safeguard actions or those subject to temporary quantitative regulation in accordance with bilateral agreements.
In November 2005, USTR and MOFCOM signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU), under which China agreed to limit export growth rates in 34 categories of textiles, representing approximately 40 percent of bilateral trade in textiles, through 2008.
The United States in turn agreed to dismiss all pending China-specific textile safeguard investigations and agreed to exercise restraint in invoking safeguards for categories of textiles falling outside the MOU.
The United States and China also established an Electronic Visa Information System (ELVIS) Arrangement to monitor trade in the affected products.
China also requires export licenseson products that are the subject of antidumping duties in a foreign market.
