WASHINGTON, June 13 (UPI) -- European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, who struck a deal last week with his Chinese counterparts to curb surging textile exports, criticized the United States for taking what he called a less-than conciliatory approach toward Beijing.
"The U.S. has chosen to act first and then talk later, which might make the talking slightly more difficult because China might react in a different way," he said Saturday in comments reported by the Financial Times.
The remarks came a day after both the European Union and China agreed to limit Chinese textile imports on 10 categories, including pullovers, men's trousers, blouses, T-shirts, dresses, bras, flax yarn, cotton fabrics, bed linen and table and kitchen linen.
"The overall settlement offers a fair deal for China while giving respite and much needed breathing space to textile industries in Europe and developing countries," he said in a released statement Friday.
Mandelson and Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xialai met in Shanghai, China, in a last-ditch effort to finalize negotiations before the EU agreed to pursue a formal dispute at the World Trade Organization.
"It's indicative that we are reaching a pretty critical moment," Anthony Gooch, a spokesman for the EU delegation, said Friday. "We are under quite significant pressure from our constituencies of the European Union."
Gooch added that the EU was anxious to maintain a healthy, productive trading relationship with China that requires the bloc's partners to take into account the difficulties it is encountering."
Under the terms of Friday's agreement, China said it would limit growth on 10 of its textile imports from 8 to 12.5 percent to alleviate the market disruption caused by its surging textile imports. The measure effective immediately will last till 2007.
On its part, the EU conceded to end investigations on the 10 textile products identified by the European Textile Association to have affected European textile manufacturers.
Mandelson called the deal a "win-win-win agreement" that averted taking any European protectionist action by resolving the dispute through constructive dialogue.
While the EU could have restricted Chinese import growth to 7.5 percent under China's rule of accession to the WTO, Mandelson has strongly advocated seeking a negotiated settlement, which would protect European interests by curbing imports, while maintaining trade relations with China, the EU's second-largest trading partner.
"I have always hoped that this issue could be resolved amicably, rather than through the EU taking unilateral measures, even if we are legally entitled to do so," said Mandelson.
The Chinese textile industry and Chamber of Commerce both welcomed the EU's decision to resolve the trade dispute through "consultations," which they argued set a good precedent to resolve textile trade disputes in the future.
"We have also noticed EU's positive approach on China-EU textile issues, and we hope EU will continue to move forward along the path of textile trade liberalization," said the chamber in a statement.
Mandelson warned the deal reached would be a "once-and-for-all" agreement, rather than a "salami-slice" approach that would require agreement on every product on a category-by-category basis.
The United States, which has imposed seven import quotas on Chinese textiles, said it was not commenting on the EU's negotiated settlement with China.
"Currently, the Department of Commerce is reviewing the agreement," Meredith Williams, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Commerce, told United Press International.
Despite U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez recent trip to Beijing, the United States has yet to engage in formal discussions with the Chinese government.
According to the Federal Register, the United States requested formal consultations with China to curb imports on men's and boy's cotton fiber shirts, blouses and trousers on May 27. Under the terms of China's accession agreement to the WTO, it must curb imports to 7.5 percent and engage in formal consultations within 30 days of receiving the U.S. request.
If the United States and China are unable to reach an agreement within 90 days, the United States can continue to impose limits on Chinese imports.
China has criticized both the EU and the United States in the past for using protectionist measures to stymie its growth, arguing that both parties delayed plans to develop a future scheme after the 30-year-old quota system was officially lifted Jan.1.
