By Bruno Waterfield - 6th September 2005
Textiles blocked at customs warehouses across Europe should be freed-up by September 14 after national governments gave the green light to an EU-China textiles deal on Wednesday.
Agreement between EU member states has triggered an automatic written procedure to be rubber-stamped by the European Commission next Wednesday.
The move should free-up 80 million Chinese garments blocked at EU customs points after June 10 Brussels quotas were rapidly filled.
But possible concessions to concerns from producing countries over Chinese import levels in textiles and in other sectors are not public.
Requests by textile producing countries are, if they exist, contained in unpublished minutes from the meeting of EU ambassadors, say trade officials.
France, Italy, Spain, Poland and Portugal may have requested extra commission surveillance on import levels in assurances.
Rome, and other capitals, are concerned about soaring shoe imports from China and will push the commission to speed up ongoing ‘anti-dumping’ investigations.
European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson took a swipe at French and other attempts to raise trade barriers to cheap Chinese imports in a Beijing speech on Tuesday.
“I hold to my view that the wrong answer would be to build new tariff barriers and to protect us behind unrealistic walls. These walls are like the historic Maginot line of the past. It doesn't help to defend against a threat,” he said.
Mandelson's "historic" reference will not be lost in Paris: the post-WW1 French defence system known as the Maginot line singularly failed to protect the country against German invasion in 1940.
Complicated quota juggling and the freeing-up of tens of millions of pullovers, bras and trousers over and above ceilings set to protect EU textile producers are the key to the deal.
“It is based on the principle that the EU and China will share responsibility for the goods that are blocked,” said a senior European trade official on Monday.
Beijing will transfer over 40 million garments into 2006 quotas, a move that will cut China’s textile growth rates in bras, pullovers and trousers from ten to 7.5 or five per cent.
On the European side, struggling EU textile manufacturers must cope with 40m garments on the market above targets set after a surge of imports threatened to wipe out producers.
Under the deal ten million pullovers will be “borrowed forward” from next year’s ceiling, another 14m will be released or counted under – unfilled – cotton goods quotas.
Nine million trousers and six million bras will be accounted for under 2006 quotas, the rest will be released on top of this years ceilings.
Textile quotas were introduced on June 10 after strong pressure to shield the EU clothing industry from cheap Chinese imports.
Spain, France, Poland and Portugal have been concerned at the impact of releasing textiles over and above ceilings originally set to protect struggling textile industries.
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