U.S. Customs charges China with ‘dumping’

On December 31, the U.S. will scrap quotas on textiles, and as that deadline approaches, U.S. Customs is talking tough with the Chinese. Customs charges that China illegally declared that 1,000 containers of goods originated in other countries, when they came from China and exceeded that nation’s import quota for 2008. The U.S. could charge China anti-dumping duties or impose product-specific safeguards against China for five more years under Section 421 of the Trade Act of 1974. Textile trade associations play both sides of the increasingly tense U.S.-China dispute. The National Council of Textile Organizations will try to prevent Chinese-made textiles from flooding the U.S. after quotas disappear, while the U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel says the Customs actions are “politically motivated.”