US Government challenges court decision on textile quotas

The U.S. government is challenging a federal court decision that prevented it from considering quotas on Chinese textile imports based on their threat to the country rather than on proven damage to U.S. industry.

The government filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, asking it to overturn a decision by the U.S. Court for International Trade banning threat-based petitions.

Last year, textile industry groups filed a number of requests with the federal government to impose safeguard quotas on some types of Chinese textile imports. The safeguard quotas are designed to prevent Chinese textiles from overrunning the U.S. textile market and driving U.S. producers out of business.

Another group of U.S. companies, principally retailers and apparel makers, had filed suit asking the court to ban the government from considering those quotas purely on the basis of a potential threat rather than proven harm to the industry. Those companies are in favor of an open trade regime because it allows them to make clothing cheaper abroad and hence sell it for less in the United States. 

The Court of International Trade's decision came out of that lawsuit, which the federal government is now challenging.

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