China to Fight U.S. Limit on Textile Imports
By CHRIS BUCKLEY

BEIJING, May 16 - Chinese trade officials say they will fight limits imposed on Chinese clothing exports by the Bush administration, while Chinese manufacturers are calling for tit-for-tat restrictions on American businesses.

The move toward new quotas on Chinese clothing exports is a "betrayal of the fundamental spirit of trade liberalization espoused by the W.T.O.," a spokesman for China's Ministry of Commerce, Chong Quan, said in a statement Sunday in China's state-run press in response to Washington's decision. The limits, he said, would "seriously damage the confidence of Chinese businesses and people in the international trade environment since China joined the W.T.O."

"The Chinese government reserves the right to adopt further measures under the W.T.O. framework," Mr. Chong said.

Carlos M. Gutierrez, the commerce secretary, said Friday that limits would be placed on Chinese-made cotton trousers, shirts and underwear, citing a surge of up to 1,500 percent in Chinese garment exports since early January when the United States and Europe abolished a system of quotas that previously restrained imports.

The proposed new restrictions would limit growth in Chinese imports of the affected garments to 7.5 percent above the level that exports reached in the previous 12 months, the lowest possible under trading rules.