China, US strike deal on China textiles
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-11-07 17:21

The council's statement echoes similar reports from the US media over the weekend.

Workers sew clothes at a garment factory in Hefei, Anhui Province in this undated photo. It is reported China and the US have reached an agreement on China's clothes exports to the US. [newsphoto]

The US reports said Beijing and Washington had agreed in principle to a three-year textile pact allowing for escalating annual import growth rates in 34 individual categories of China-made fabrics and apparel.

The Washington Post said the agreement was likely to be signed next week by US Trade Representative Rob Portman and Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai.

Portman is due to hold talks in Beijing on November 14 to discuss copycat abuses of foreign brands by Chinese manufacturers and lack of access for US companies trying to enter the booming Chinese market.

The pact follows several rounds of Sino-US negotiations to slow the surge of Chinese imports following the scrapping of a global textile quota system on January 1.

China and the European Union finalised a similar deal in September this year.

An official at China's Commerce Ministry declined to comment on the new agreement, saying a statement would be released soon.