The European Commission said on Wednesday that it hopes to reach
an agreement with China on Chinese exports of T-shirts and flax
yarn by next Tuesday, giving EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson
the green light to continue informal talks with Vice Minister of
Commerce Gao Hucheng.
Mandelson's spokesperson, Claude Veron-Reville, said the EU
would not launch formal consultations with China on the two
categories of products if they reached an agreement by then,
telling reporters that she believed a timely deal was possible.
"The EU and China had constructive negotiations on this issue
yesterday and the talks will go through the week if necessary," she
said.
Earlier last week, Mandelson announced that the EU would launch
formal consultations with China over T-shirts and flax yarn, a move
that would allow it to impose import limits within 15 days of the
formal start of negotiations if China failed to curb its
exports.
Meanwhile, there are seven other categories of textile imports
from China currently being investigated by the EU.
China agreed last week to raise export tariffs on goods in 74
categories by as much as five times, but said it would scrap these
plans if the EU and US imposed quotas on imports.
"If the US and the EU formally carry out restrictions on any of
these categories, we will not impose tariffs on the items in
question," the Commerce Ministry said.
In line with WTO agreements,
all quantitative quotes on textile products were lifted by January
1 this year, but there have been calls for their reintroduction as
some categories of Chinese exports have risen.
(Xinhua News Agency May 26, 2005)