Vietnam and U.S. reach tentative agreement on textile and garment quotas
HANOI - After more than a week of tough negotiations in
Washington, Vietnam and the United States have reached a
tentative agreement on the amount of clothes the communist
country can ship to America each year, an official said Monday.
The two sides agreed to cap Vietnam's textile and garment exports
to roughly $1.7 billion a year, a Vietnamese official familiar with the
negotiations told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Vietnam has already shipped $530 million to the United States in
the first quarter of this year, he said.
"The negotiators are still working on the wording of the agreement
and when it would take effect," the official said.
The United States wants the agreement to take effect retroactively
on April 1, while Vietnamese negotiators are pushing for a July 1
start date, the official said.
Vietnam's textile and garment exports to the United States
ballooned from $48 million in 2001 to $975 million last year,
according to Vietnamese government figures. The sharp increase
occurred after import tariffs were slashed when the two countries
adopted a trade agreement in December 2001.
The quota negotiations began after some U.S. manufacturers
expressed concerns that low-priced Vietnamese clothes could flood
the American market and threaten their profits.
The Vietnamese official said he is hopeful the agreement will be
signed Monday in Washington.
Under the deal, 30 categories of garments and textiles will be
capped. For example, quotas for pants will be set at 84 million pairs
a year, while cotton knit shirts will be cut off at 164 million, the
official said. In the first two months of this year, Vietnam has
already shipped half that amount.
"We are not very satisfied with the cap as we could export more
than that to the U.S. markets," the official said. "We may have to
look for other markets."
Officials from the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi declined comment Monday.
In a letter last week to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick,
the United States Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel
argued fiercely against imposing quotas, saying "this administration
had done the American retailing and importing community a
tremendous disservice, at a time when the retail sector is essential
to the health of the U.S. economy."
Last year Vietnam exported a total of $2.75 billion in textiles and
garments, making it the communist country's second biggest earner
after crude oil.
The Associated Press - April 21, 2003.
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