2005/05/24 09:47:00
The UK has abstained from a vote on imposing import restrictions of clothing from China. Basically the World Trade Organisation is being pushed by Europe to impose these taxes to protect the European textile industry. This of course will lead to the the companies in China having to lower their costs to compete with this tax. Would a better solution be to put the tax only on products that do not conform to some basic standards such as good working conditions and the use of chemicals. In this way all the companies would be competing on a similar footing. The best solution would be for China to start to take these measures themselves. China has stated that they will start to place an export tax on textiles by the 1st July so at least the cash will stay in China but you have to wonder how this will be spent to improve the working conditions of the people in the factories.
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