China announced they would remove the self imposed export tariffs on their textile industries claiming their products couldn’t be put under a second layer of pressures after the U.S. and the E.U. announced plans for protective trade actions against the textile industry of the most heavily populated nation on the planet.
Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai met with reporters on Monday to discuss what would appear to be the initial volleys of a trade war. He went on to say China wouldn’t tax products already penalized by the EU and the U.S. This comes as the U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez prepares to visit China to discuss narrowing the U.S. trade deficit with China.
The U.S. and the EU have charged China’s not following the rules regarding the agreement they made upon joining the World Trade Organization and is disrupting markets based on those World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. Tariffs and import restrictions recently lifted and had begun to create problems for textile companies in both the U.S. and EU.
Bo told the journalists, “The EU and U.S. imposed quotas on Chinese textiles based on primary data obtained in a short period of just three or four months and made a cursory decision. They are groundless and unscientific.”
China tried to ease fears by placing their own export tariffs on products although many felt these measure would be insignificant. Some government official and labor groups in the U.S. have been up in arms about China’s recent market floods because Chinese goods are significantly less than most goods in other countries.
“We have shown that not only is there a surge in imports from China but also that there is an immediate risk for (European) companies,” European Commission spokeswoman Claude Veron-Reville told Reuters in Brussels.
So far, the U.S. has had no comment.
John Stith is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
