Emergency WTO Session Requested

July 16, 2004 -- According to the Global Alliance for Fair Textile Trade, attendees of the ?Summit on Fair Trade in Textile and Clothing? issued a communiqu? which warned that ?a crisis of unprecedented dimensions in textiles and clothing is now at hand.? The communiqu? urged governments around the world use the China textile safeguard effectively in order to prevent the potential loss of 30 million jobs worldwide. It also called for an emergency WTO meeting to assess the impact of the quota phase-out.

Just one week after the Summit ended, Mauritius became the first country to publicly call for a special WTO session to examine the impact of the phase-out of quotas. In private meetings between the U.S. Trade Representative?s office and domestic textile industry leaders, the U.S. government assured the industry that it will not oppose a special meeting of the WTO to examine the impact of the phase-out.

The Alliance represents more than 90 trade groups from 49 countries.

Staff contact: Peter Orwick, ext. 33

<< Back