Prometheus 6

Quote of note:

Mr. Bo said the government would resist calls from Chinese manufacturers for a W.T.O. complaint over the restrictions or to take other retaliatory measures. But the announcement on Monday suggested that the trade fight over clothing was far from over. "If you place limits on Chinese products," he said, "we'll adjust our policies accordingly. If you place five ounces of pressure on our businesses, we'll remove eight ounces of their burdens."

China to End Its Taxes on Textile Exports in Retaliation for U.S. and European Quotas
By CHRIS BUCKLEY

BEIJING, May 30 - China said Monday that it was lifting self-imposed textile export tariffs in reaction to quotas on the exports by the United States and European Union.

The Commerce Ministry said it was removing duties it had placed on 81 products early this year.

Commerce Minister Bo Xilai told a news conference after the announcement here that recent decisions by the United States and the European Union to restrict several categories of Chinese-made garments were "hasty" and "lacking a scientific basis," and he rejected assertions that China was unfairly exploiting the abolition of quotas on textile exports at the beginning of 2005.

The Americans and Europeans were themselves to blame for failing to adequately prepare their domestic textile industries for the lifting of global trade quotas and the inevitable rise in Chinese exports, Mr. Bo said.

"With the integration of textile products, it's natural that we should enjoy this right," he said of China's export expansion after the quotas ended, a measure agreed to by the parties to the trade agreement years before. "Europe and the United States," Mr. Bo added, "should understand that in this long process, they've been negligent and have failed to fulfill their own duties."