Washington, according to the NCTO, the number of clothing imports from China has increased significantly since the quota was banned in January 1st, according to data released by the US Department of Commerce (DOC) this week.

NCTO said that imports of trousers, underwear and shirts increased by 36% in January 2009 compared with January 2008, although the global import of such products in the United States showed a downward trend.

Cass Johnson, President of NCTO, said that in the first two months of this year, the US textile industry lost 20000 jobs. He appealed to the Obama administration to initiate import surveillance procedures, so that the relevant information would enable the us to take anti-dumping actions or other actions to resist imports from other countries.

NCTO said they listed 63 "export subsidies" which directly contradict the statement of the Chinese government. The Chinese government said in a statement that China would not introduce new "predatory means".

At present, there are two sets of surveillance mechanisms for textile and clothing imports.

In October last year, the house ways and Means Committee instructed the International Trade Commission to monitor 34 products previously controlled by quotas, so as to ascertain whether there was a surge in imports of these products after the cancellation of the quota.

Johnson said the current growth in imports is a sign of constructive growth in those subsidized imports.

At the same time, Congress allocated funds for DOC and called for more extensive surveillance of imported garments from China and Vietnam in the rest of the fiscal year (end of September this fiscal year).

An additional report points out that the ITA will launch clothing surveillance, focusing on clothing prices from China and Vietnam to see if there are illegal pricing products in these countries and whether they are dumping on the US market.

If there is indeed a dumping phenomenon, DOC may automatically initiate an anti-dumping case.

The other part of the Appropriation Committee's report appealed to ITA to implement "proactive enforcement actions, including China's accession to WTO agreements on trade safeguards."

The import monitoring program is strongly opposed by retailers and other textile and garment importers, who claim that the existence of these arrangements creates trouble in procurement.

In a letter to the leaders of the house and Senate, the National Retail Federation, the American Apparel and Footwear Association, the retail industry leaders Association and the American textile and clothing Importers Association urged the Congress not to approve the surveillance plan, because the special arrangement creates instability for the market, and when the consumer price continues to rise and businesses are struggling to maintain procurement and sales, they also need to ensure their employees are employed.

They also criticized the implementation of surveillance procedures as a cost to taxpayers, who said that surveillance arrangements were unnecessary and unnecessary procedures, and were not in accordance with US laws and international obligations.

But, when and how the Obama administration is going to implement the surveillance procedures, it is still not a single word, because neither the chief executive of the DOC nor the chief executive of the US trade representative office is in place. They will not take action before they thoroughly review the US trade policy.

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