Judge Blocks Cap on Chinese Textile Imports

The Bush administration is being temporarily barred from imposing new limits on imported clothing and textile products flowing into the United States from China.

The action late Thursday by a federal court in New York comes as U.S. textile makers brace for an even greater surge of Chinese apparel imports when decades-old, worldwide quotas expire today.

U.S. textile and clothing manufacturers, worried about more competition coming from China, are seeking protections from the administration to limit Chinese imports.

Industry officials decried the court ruling, saying it could further hurt beleaguered U.S. factory jobs.

Importers of Chinese goods and the retailers that buy apparel and textiles made in China hailed the judge’s decision.

Judge Richard Goldberg of the U.S. Court of International Trade issued a preliminary injunction that temporarily bars the administration from considering petitions seeking restrictions on imports of clothing and textiles from China.

The U.S. Assn. of Importers of Textiles and Apparel, whose members include J.C. Penney Co. and Liz Claiborne Inc., sought the injunction. The Bush administration opposed the group’s request.

The issue of trade with China has been politically touchy for the administration. Democrats have accused President Bush of not doing enough to protect American workers from unfair foreign competition.

The U.S. trade deficit with China clocked a record $16.8 billion in October as imports from the country hit all-time highs.

The administration has been pressing China to let its currency, the yuan, be set in open markets. U.S. manufacturers say Beijing’s currency policies give Chinese companies a big competitive advantage.

Petitions seeking limits on Chinese textile and apparel imports are permissible under a special provision of the agreement China signed to gain entry into the World Trade Organization in late 2001. The United States can impose temporary restrictions on such imports from China if those products are threatening market disruptions.

Several petitions have been filed, and the importers’ association contended that they have disrupted some companies’ 2005 business plans. Some canceled orders in China and scrambled to find factories elsewhere, according to court documents.

Goldberg wrote that the association “raised sufficiently serious” questions to warrant a preliminary injunction.