U.S. clamps down on illegal Chinese clothing trade

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 1,000 cargo containers of Chinese clothing that were illegally exported to the United States under another country's name have been charged to import quotas for China, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency said on Thursday.

The Bush administration touted the action as evidence of its tough enforcement of trade agreements, while a group representing clothing importers said the move was "politically motivated" and would have little impact on trade.

Customs said 11 different countries were incorrectly identified as the country of origin for the Chinese apparel, which was valued in excess of $80 million.

Although most textile quotas expired on January 1, 2005, China agreed to limit shipments of certain clothing to the United States through the end of 2008 after U.S. producers complained of a price-depressing surge.

The apparel, which included large quantities of cotton knit shirts and cotton trousers, was counted against China quotas for 2006 and 2007, Customs said.

Countries most often declared as the country of origin for the goods were Philippines, Korea, United Arab Emirates, Russia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Taiwan and Malaysia. Shipments of Chinese apparel were also declared as products of the Czech Republic, Vietnam and Thailand, Customs said.

U.S. clothing importers said they did not condone illegal activity, but noted China did not exceed quotas for 2006 and 2007 even with the additional product counted against them.

"This is politics. Pure and simple. With the quotas set to end in less than six months, CBP has to justify the resources it has dedicated to rummaging through foreign factories and then detaining and seizing apparel shipments since 2006," Laura Jones, executive director of the U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel, said in a statement.

The group, which opposed the reimposition of quotas in 2005, said the $80 million in illegal transhipments charged to China was "an extremely small sum" compared to total U.S. apparel imports in 2006 and 2007 of $145 billion.

"What we don't know is how much of this is about sloppy paperwork by foreign factories and how much is the result of smuggling or misrepresentation of origin. But either way, we do know that CBP is under pressure from the U.S. textile industry to prove that it is protecting them," Jones said.

(Editing by Anthony Boadle)