Details have emerged in the Sino-US trade pact which could mean mainland textile exports - an area dominated by Hong Kong investors - face more hurdles than first thought. Not only has the United States ensured the maintenance of tough anti-dumping provisions for 12 years, but a potentially restrictive 1997 textiles agreement between Beijing and Washington remains firmly in place, according to US textile industry internal reports. 'It seems there is a devil in the details for Hong Kong textiles interests that warrants close attention,' a Hong Kong government official based in Washington said. 'It is not quite open season as some believed and we are trying to seek official confirmation that the deal means what it seems to.' Under normal World Trade Organisation rules, quotas on US imports of mainland textiles and clothing would expire by 2005. The 1997 agreement written into this week's deal acknowledges that date but gives the US the right to impose new quotas to prevent 'market disruptions' of specific items for the four years to 2009. Each category - which can be as specific as 'women's cotton trousers' - is allowed to be restrained only once for a year. Textile Council director and Legislative Council member Sophie Leung Lau Yau-fun, said the agreement had already been signed and both parties would have done so with open eyes. 'We never thought that it would be straightforward,' Ms Leung said. 'Anti-dumping rules are not that much of a concern, it has always been a threat. 'But as long as one complies with what needs to be done . . . one should not have to worry.' She said mainland-made garments had reached higher levels of quality and would continue to improve, making them more difficult to sell cheaply to undercut US-made products. Ms Leung also said Hong Kong companies should concentrate more on ensuring they were internationally competitive. Chief economist at the Hong Kong Trade Development Council Edward Leung said there appeared to have been some 'give and take' in the trade-off on tariff phase-out dates. 'Negotiation is negotiation. It's a deal. We just have to take the thing as a whole or we forget about it,' said Mr Leung. The already-troubled US textile industry has long feared mainland entry to the WTO and has long been demanding protection. This week the American Textile Manufacturers Institute claimed the deal would cost 150,000 US jobs across the industry. Milliken and Co, one of largest garment manufacturers in the US, said President Bill Clinton had signed the 'death warrant' for local industry. The Institute also claimed the mainland was already breaking quotas by more than US$4 billion of exports annually through false labelling and transshipment trickery. Mainland exports have improved steadily and US brand-name clothes with 'Made in China' labels are already an increasingly common sight in US stores. TEXTILES
