BEIJING, April 6 -- The U.S. Government took the first step Tuesday toward restricting imports of low-priced pants, shirts and underwear from China in response to pressure from the U.S. textile industry.

    In a rare move that could boost support for other U.S. trade priorities, U.S. trade officials said they would ¡°self-initiate¡± investigations into whether to curb the imports, which surged by 300 to 1500 percent in the first three months of this year, according to preliminary data.

    ¡°This decision is the first step in a process to determine whether the U.S. market for these products is being disrupted and whether China is playing a role in that disruption,¡± U.S. commerce secretary Carlos Gutierrez said.

    Textile groups and their allies in the U.S. Congress have been pressuring the Bush administration to slap emergency curbs on China, which they said was poised to overrun the U.S. market following the end of a decades-old quota system Jan. 1.

    The Chinese Government agreed when it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001 to let the United States and other countries impose ¡°safeguard¡± restrictions on its clothing and textile exports when they surge to market-disrupting levels.

    That provision, which expires at the end of 2008, allows countries to limit the growth in imports from China to just 7.5 percent above the previous year.

    The U.S. Government¡¯s decision spared the industry from preparing cases itself and could shave six weeks or more off the time to it took to actually impose curbs, said Daniel Ikensen, an trade analyst for the Cato Institute.

    U.S. textile producers want the Bush administration to make a formal decision to impose curbs once a 30-day comment period ends. The law allows it to take up to 150 days, if needed.

    (Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)