The Foreign Trade Association, representing the foreign trade interests of European commerce, has criticised the decision by EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson to launch an investigation with a view to the imposition of safeguard restrictions on imports of various textile products from China as highly inappropriate. The step was seen as politically motivated and as caused by intense pressure exerted by some EU member states in conjunction with the European textile and clothing industry. Just four months after the removal of quotas for textile products accompanied by an almost complete liberalisation of the global textile trade, this new threat of import restrictions is comprehensible neither to importers nor to European commerce. Although imports from China had risen in the first three months of 2005 compared to last year, this was attributable to specific factors which could not be expected to continue over the coming months, said FTA General Secretary Jan. A. Eggert in Brussels.
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