http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/10/business/worldbusiness/10textile.html?ei=5094&en=8c04b75f372536b5&hp=&ex=1110517200&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print&position=In January, the United States imported more than $1.2 billion in textiles and apparel from China, up from about $701 million a year ago. Imports of major apparel products from China jumped 546 percent. Last January, for example, China shipped 941,000 cotton knit shirts, which were limited by quotas; this January, it shipped 18.2 million, a 1,836 percent increase. Imports of cotton knit trousers were up 1,332 percent from a year ago.
These figures may be understated because China ships a large part of its goods through Hong Kong, and those shipments are not included
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Already, in January, the first month after global quotas were lifted, 12,200 jobs were lost in the United States apparel and textile industries, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Some analysts have predicted that China could capture as much as 70 percent of the American market in the next two years. Before the end of quotas, about 16 percent of apparel sold in the United States came from China.
"The action the government takes or doesn't take will affect 30 million workers around the world and perhaps half a million in this country."