Latest safeguard petition: towels

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 10/13/2005 8:53:00 AM

BEIJING -- A coalition of textiles manufacturer trade groups has filed a new safeguard petition for restraints on imports of towels (category 363) from China after the latest round of U.S./China negotiations ended without an agreement.

“At this round, China returned to its position of delay and no compromise by insisting on terms for an agreement that were impossible for the U.S. government to accept and that would have been extremely damaging to the U.S. industry and its workers,” stated Cass Johnson, president of the National Council of Textile Organizations, a group involved in filing the safeguard petition.

Imports of towels from China have increased 224 percent during the first eight months of this year, according to data from the U.S. Office of Textiles and Apparel.