U.S. Government to Monitor Apparel Imports From China
Quotas on all U.S. apparel imports coming from China may expire at the end of this year, but that doesn’t mean there will be a completely open-door policy.
The U.S. government announced on Oct. 31 that it will be monitoring import volumes and values on 34 categories of apparel and textiles that have been under temporary quotas since Jan. 1, 2006. Those clothing items include everything from swimsuits and sweaters to trousers and cotton-knit shirts.
The International Trade Commission said it would be providing statistical reports every two weeks on apparel and textiles and handing that report over to the House Ways and Means Committee, headed by Rep. Charles Rangel (D–N.Y.) In early October, Rangel asked the ITC to monitor apparel after 73 lawmakers, 10 textile and fiber trade groups, and the labor union Unite Here requested that Chinese imports be watched. The first report will be out Dec. 1. It will contain volume, value, unit value and import market share for each category being monitored.
Many U.S. manufacturers fear the U.S. marketplace will be flooded with inexpensive goods made in China when quotas expire. That happened when quotas on all apparel and textiles made in China expired at the end of 2004. By the first half of 2005, imports of Chinese-made cotton trousers totaled 17.4 million dozen pairs, compared with 908,000 dozen pairs in the similar period a year earlier.
However, clothing imports from China this year have inched downward. During the first eight months of 2008, apparel imports were down 4.25 percent to $14 billion, compared with the first eight months of 2007. Imports of Chinese-made apparel and textiles still make up about one-third of all textile goods brought into the United States. —Deborah Belgum
