Updated: 2005-06-17
The United States and China will hold initial consultations later on Thursday to try to reach an agreement to diffuse recent textile trade tensions, U.S. trade officials said.

Richard Mills, a spokesman for the U.S. Trade Representative's Office, said the consultations would cover recent import restrictions imposed by the United States on seven categories of Chinese-made clothing and textile products.

The United States has restricted imports of trousers, shirts, underwear and other imports from China in response to a surge since the beginning of the year when a global quota system expired.

Beijing agreed to the anti-surge mechanism when it joined the WTO in 2001 but has complained that the United States acted too quickly when it reimposed quotas in late May.

WTO rules require the two sides to hold talks within 30 days of the U.S. request for consultations in late May. The two countries have 90 days from the same date to try to work out a deal.

The discussion on Thursday night will take place by videoconference and is aimed at finding a way to "ease or avoid the market disruption" caused by the surge in imports from China, Mills said.