New US government figures Friday showing a sharp rise in Chinese textile imports, prompted renewed calls for safeguards imposed by Washington.
The preliminary data for textiles and apparel showed total imports from China increased 63 percent in the first three months of 2005 compared with a year ago to more than 2.8billion square meters, the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition (AMTAC) said.
The report highlighted fears from US industry groups and labor unions, which have been calling for Washington to implement a so-called safeguard mechanism under WTO rules to limit growth in Chinese textile and apparel imports.
US officials have so far taken no action but said they would step up monitoring to get data more quickly, to determine whether any action is appropriate.
"The data shows that China's surge is no one-month anomaly. It is a clear trend undeniably demonstrating severe damage in the US market," said AMTAC executive director Auggie Tantillo.
Tantillo said the data underscore the need for quick action.
"Already 17,200 US textile and apparel manufacturing jobs have been lost in 2005," he said. "These job losses will be just the tip of the iceberg unless the US government immediately self-initiates safeguards."
AMTAC said that according to Chinese Customs data, China's exports to the US in the most sensitive apparel categories are up 349 percent for the first two months of this year while prices are down 31 percent.
US importers have however accused the textile groups of promoting "hysteria" and say freer trade is benefiting all countries.
The end of quotas enshrined in the 1974 Multifibre Arrangement and later in the WTO Agreement on Textiles and Clothing was expected to have a major impact not only on wealthier nations that import goods, but on other developing countries that may lose market share to China.
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