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US, China said close to broad textile deal
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-08-18 06:56
The United States and China are close to a broad textile trade pact to deal with surging imports from China but will likely need another meeting to reach an agreement, the Bush administration's textile negotiator said on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
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| A Chinese worker inspects spools in a textile company in Huaibei in east China's Anhui province August 16, 2005. [newsphoto] |
David Spooner, the White House special textile negotiator, said two days of talks in San Francisco have been fruitful but have not yet yielded a deal U.S. manufacturers hope will limit surging Chinese imports.
He added if a final meeting was needed it would likely take place in China before August 31 -- the date when the Bush administration is expected to make a decision on requests for additional restrictions on textile imports from China.
"Both sides are eager to solve this problem but both sides also say they would rather take a little longer to get a good deal rather than easily reach a bad deal," Spooner said. "We hope to finish in one more meeting but will have more meetings if that is what it takes."
The talks come as part of the normal consultations required under WTO rules whenever a member country imposes safeguard curbs -- a move the United States took earlier this year after a decades-old global quota system expired on January 1.
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