EU and China to Limit Chinese Clothing Exports to Europe Until End of 2008

(The Canadian Press)

The European Union and China have agreed to cap Chinese clothing exports to Europe until the end of 2008, the European Commission said Tuesday.

The EU’s executive arm said it would run “joint import surveillance” with the Chinese Foreign Trade Ministry for the next year for some types of clothing instead of lifting all quotas on Chinese textiles as originally planned for the start of 2008.

Some European manufacturers had feared that they would have to compete with a flood of cheap Chinese bras and T-shirts when quotas were lifted. EU officials had asked China to try to contain its ballooning exports to Europe, the largest purchaser of Chinese goods.