The United States and China are expected to sign a three-year agreement on Tuesday China's booming clothing and textile shipments to the United States, a congressional aide said on Monday.

Workers sew clothes at a garment factory in Hefei, Anhui Province in this undated photo. It is reported China and the US have reached an agreement on China's clothes exports to the US. [newsphoto]

US Trade Representative Rob Portman and Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai are both in London for meetings related to world trade talks. They are expected to hold a bilateral meeting on Tuesday morning and sign the pact, said Carolyn Hern, a spokeswoman for Rep. Robin Hayes, a North Carolina Republican who has been a leading congressional advocate for such a pact.

"They are expected to sign it about 2 or 3 a.m. (EST) our time," Hern said. It's about 14:00 or 15:00 Beijing time.

A spokeswoman for the US Trade Representative's office would only confirm that Portman and Bo will hold a joint news conference on Tuesday morning in London.

A textile agreement would smooth over a rough spot in the US-China trade relationship before President George W. Bush visits Beijing the middle of this month.

China's exports of clothing and textile products to the United States jumped more than 50 percent in the first eight months of the 2005 to nearly $17.7 billion following the end of a global quota system on January 1.

That prompted US textile producers to seek protection under a "safeguard" provision of China's 2001 entry into the World Trade Organization. The measure allows WTO members to restrict the growth in imports from China to 7.5 percent annually when there is a market-disrupting surge.

SEEKING COMPREHENSIVE PACT

The Bush administration has imposed safeguard curbs on billions of dollar of Chinese clothing imports this year. But because the curbs have to be renewed annually, textile groups have pushed for a comprehensive agreement that would limit imports through 2008, when the safeguard provision expires.

Cass Johnson, president of the National Council of Textile Organizations, said on Sunday the new textile agreement was expected to restrict 34 categories of clothing and textile imports from China through 2008.

China is expected to "receive only a minimal increase -- 3.8 percent ... -- in market access in the 14 largest and most sensitive textile apparel categories as compared to the use of the safeguard," Johnson said.

The quotas for those 14 categories -- which include trousers, shirts, knits, underwear and bras -- are expected to grow 5.5 percent in 2006, 7.8 percent in 2007 and 10.3 percent in 2008, compared to 7.5 percent annually under the safeguard.

Growth rates in the other 20 categories are expected to average about 10 percent to 12 percent in 2006, 12 percent to 15 percent in 2007 and 16 percent in 2008, an industry official said.

Editor: Yan