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EU retailers angered by China textile quota
(FT.com)
Updated: 2005-08-15 07:07

Mr Mandelson has given the 25 EU governments until today to supply comprehensive trade figures to assess the cost value and volumes of stranded goods and thus to gauge the potential damage to retailers. The retailers are also warning that a Brussels proposal to allow an additional 6m sweaters into the EU did “not scratch the surface” of what was needed to bridge the gap between orders and deliveries.

A spokeswoman for the European Commission said on Sunday: “We are obviously aware of the issues ... We cannot comment now on the scale of the problem when we don't know exactly what the scale of the problem is. That is why we have asked for more information from the member states. Until we have that, it would also be premature to say what we can do to address this problem as well as possible.”

Mr Mandelson had hoped to hold emergency talks with Bo Xilai, his Chinese counterpart, by the end of last week. However, a spokeswoman in Brussels said the high-level discussions were put on hold, pending further progress among negotiators at a technical level.

China's interest in addressing the concerns of European retailers could be overshadowed from tomorrow by the launch of a separate bilateral round of textile negotiations with the US.


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