Agreement on Socks Trade

cctv.com 11-05-2005 11:31

China and the US have finally made some progress in their long running textile talks. The two parties reached a temporary agreement regarding socks, although difference remains for a broader agreement. Three days of talks ended Thursday in Washington, the latest in several rounds of face to face meetings since a surge in Chinese exports was unleashed by the end of global textile quotas on January 1st.

The US has delayed its decision on whether to impose new quotas on Chinese socks to the end of December. The previously set deadline was this Wednesday. A decision on the other four categories of textile products was also postponed to eight days later. The US also approved an extra import quota of 10 million pairs of Chinese made socks for this November and December. The US imposed safeguard measures on Chinese socks last October, which allows 51 million pairs of socks to enter the country every year. However, the quota was used up by May. Regarding any substantial progress in this week's talks, both China and the US are looking forward to the next round, which is scheduled to take place in Beijing.

Editor:Liu Fengming  Source:CCTV.com