China Trade

Tough talk on textiles

Ever since 1977, when the U.S. began importing men's knit shirts, men's and women's trousers, other apparel and textiles from China in large quantities, the volume has been rising sharply. During the first eleven months of last year, China sold $827 million worth of textiles to the U.S., up 30% from 1981. The country ranks as the fourth-largest textile exporter to the U.S., behind Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea. Unlike those other three, which have agreed to limit the growth rate of their major textile shipments to 1% per year, China has balked. It argued that, since...

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