B
US IMPORTS OF HON-COTTON TEXTILES
1. The proposals for comprehensive reetraints on non-cotton
textiles put by the US Government to the Governments of Japan and
other countries in the Far East could, if insisted upon, lead to a
serious set back to the pursuit of fuller and freer trade, based
on the GATT, which has been the common objective of the US and UK
Governments for many years.
2. The GATT recognises that circumstances may arise when
restrictions on imports of particular products may be imposed as
emergency measures; but that resort to such measures should only
be considered where increased importa are causing or threatening
to cause serious injury to domestic producers.
3.
Injury is normally judged by reference to ruch factors as the levels of domestic production, profits, prices and employment
in relation to import performance. The available information does
The
not suggest that the increase in US imports of non-cotton textiles
in the last two years, though large in relation to imports in
earlier years, has caused or threatens to cause injury to the US
industry as a whole that would warrant the introduction of wide-
spread restraints of the kind that have been proposed.
increased imports in 1968 and 1969 have come at a time when
demand and consumption in the USA have been hi h, the growth in
imports has been much less in absolute teras than the growth in
domestic production, imports of wool textiles fell in 1969 as compared with 1968 and although imports of man-made cloth
increased imports of yarn fell by a greater amount. Imports of apparel ɛrew in 1969 but the index of production remained at a
high level and for most of the year employment was at a record
level for the decade.
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