BEIJING, May 31 (UPI) -- Beijing has scrapped export tariffs on textiles and says it will set quotas on imports, in response to U.S. and EU moves to limit textile imports from China.
The Finance Ministry announced Monday that export tariffs on 81 categories of textile products, imposed at the beginning of the year, would be abolished from June 1, the South China Morning Post reported. It also said Beijing's May 20 decision to raise export taxes on 74 textile and clothing products would be revoked.
The move came in response to U.S. and European Union efforts to set new curbs on imports of Chinese textiles after a global quota system ended Jan. 1 and shipments of Chinese goods surged.
Commerce Minister Bo Xilai said the Western countries' moves were not justified, and that China would request the World Trade Organization to adjudicate in the disagreement.
The European Union's executive commission rejected Bo's position that it had no evidence to support its complaints about Chinese textile imports. A spokeswoman for the commission said excessive Chinese imports had caused "irreparable damage" to EU textile markets in the first three months of this year.
