US-China textiles deal smoothes path for Bush

0 Comments | AFP, November, 2005

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US government hailed a hard-fought textiles agreement with China that removes one of the two nations' biggest trade headaches before President George W. Bush heads to Beijing this month.

Officials and industry representatives said the agreement, signed in London Tuesday by US Trade Representative Rob Portman and Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai, would render rocky Sino-US trade in clothes and fabric more stable.

"We sought an agreement that achieves the stability and predictability sought by our retailers but also by our textile producers, who understandably found it hard to plan in the face of unpredictable safeguards (quotas).

"Five times we walked away from a deal that didn't meet this objective. The agreement we've reached is...