Joint monitoring of Chinese exports to EU
An agreement between the European Union and China has been reached, which will see both trading partners monitoring Chinese clothing exports to EU countries up to the end of 2008. It is hoped this will help to ease existing trade tensions between the two regions. This is particularly important as Europe is now the largest buyer of Chinese goods worldwide.
Many European clothing producers had feared an influx of cheap Chinese imports when quotas were lifted, but the ‘joint import surveillance’ – involving the EU and Chinese Foreign Trade Ministry – should help to alleviate some of these concerns.
This will limit the volume of textiles the Chinese are allowed to export to Europe, but will give authorities a more realistic idea of trade volumes and giving governments the opportunity to intervene if the market becomes overwhelmed.
