The sixth-round Sino-US textile talks ended Thursday, and the
two sides failed to reach an agreement, said Chinese Ministry of
Commerce (MOFCOM).
The closed-door consultation lasted one and a half day and ended
half a day ahead of schedule.
The MOFCOM expressed regret over the result.
Chief US negotiator David Spooner issued a brief written
statement, saying that "We have not come to an agreement that meets
the needs of our domestic manufacturers and retailers", but giving
no indication of whether the two sides made any progress or the
reason they failed to reach agreement.
David Spooner, special negotiator for textiles at the US Trade
Representative's Office, continued to be head of the US side, while
the Chinese side was still led by Lu Jianhua, director of foreign
trade department in the Ministry of Commerce.
"What is lacking at present is a powerful force from outside to
break the stalemate," said Zhao Yumin, a research fellow with the
Institute of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the
MOFCOM.
Trade disputes between textile sectors of the two sides are not
complex in terms of economic benefits, she said, noting that the
issue would be easily settled, like that of the Sino-European
one,? on the principle of mutual benefit.
Since global quotas were scrapped on January 1, the United
States and the European Union have set limits on textile products
imported from China, saying that the surge of textile products
imported from China disturbed their markets.
China and the European Union signed a memorandum on Chinese
textile products to Europe in June and reached an agreement in
September.
However, China and the United States failed to reach any
agreement after five rounds of negotiations on this issue.
Meanwhile, the US side has imposed limits on the quotas of nine
categories of Chinese textile products so far.
"The problem is that the textile issue between China and the
United States is mixed with many other factors," said Zhao.
According to her, the theory of a "China threat" is quite
popular in the United States. China enjoys a huge trade surplus
with the United States, which makes the expanding import of Chinese
textile products easily trigger precautions.
Moreover, the US government always treats the textile issue as a
poise for bargaining, making the negotiation more difficult, she
said.
Sino-US negotiations focus on the coverage, time scale, growth
rate and basement of the limit. China hopes the limit would end by
2007 while the US side insists on covering 2008. But the US side
once took a compromise on the growth rate.
According to Zhao, the textile trade dispute between the two
sides would remain as it is in 2005, for the United States has set
limits to textile products with rapid import growth rate and the
year is coming to the end.
Insiders with access to the negotiation agreed that there is
little hope for the two sides to reach an agreement in 2005.
(Xinhua News Agency October 14, 2005)