Mandelson to unblock Chinese goods

EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson said yesterday he would make proposals to EU member States today to release millions of euro’s worth of Chinese-made garments stuck in European ports.

The 25-nation EU has been split on how to deal with the problem, with Mr Mandelson torn between protecting local textile industries from Chinese competition and ensuring shops are not left with empty shelves by Christmas.

“The commission is making proposals to our member States tomorrow morning to begin proceedings to unblock all the goods which are currently held at customs,” he said in an interview.

He gave no details of the proposals to free up millions of Chinese sweaters, trousers, bras, blouses and other garments, with an estimated value of hundreds of millions of euros.

Member states are divided on how to deal with the issue, with the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Finland warning of job losses among retailers unless the EU eases import curbs on Chinese clothing.

Opposing pressure has come from countries with big textile industries such as France, Italy and Spain.

Mr Mandelson urged all member states to back him.

“I hope member states will cooperate with me ... and they won’t prevent the speedy passage of those procedures. If they cooperate I believe we will be able to unblock all the goods currently held at customs by the middle of next month.”

China and the European Union were in the fourth day of talks on Sunday on revising a two-month-old textile trade pact.

“The talks will continue today as a ground-clearing exercise in terms of reaching a mutual understanding,” said Stephen Adams, a European Commission spokesman on trade.

The strategy to unblock the backlog could include bringing forward some of next year’s import quotas or making use of unfilled quotas this year for certain categories of garments.

“We are still in the dark about where this is going to go. There are still a lot of questions to be asked,” Alisdair Grey, a director of the British Retail Consortium which represents major high street shops in Britain, said of the proposals.

The June deal, which capped growth in 10 lines of Chinese textile exports at 8-12% a year, was hailed at the time as a sensible response to a deluge of low-cost clothes from China following the scrapping of global textile quotas on January 1.

Mr Mandelson said the EU must adjust to China’s growth as the “protectionist route is a cul-de-sac”.