The U. S. Trade Negotiator has agreed to permit importation of cotton trousers from Bangladesh in
excess of that nations import quota, but the U.S. will cut next years quota by three times the
amount of this years overshipment. Some 175,000 dozen pairs of cotton trousers have been embargoed
since mid-summer, as the two governments tried to decide what to do about the overshipments.
Importers urged the U.S. government to release the trousers, contending that stores needed them in
time for Christmas sales. The U.S. textile industry and its supporters in Congress insisted that
that quota should be enforced.Bangladesh at first asked that the overshipment be forgiven, and when
that was turned down, it asked to borrow from next years quota, as has been the practice in some
cases in the past. In the end, the U.S. government settled on releasing the embargoed shipments,
but levied a penalty on next years imports.Retailers who had been pressing to receive the goods
were satisfied with the compromise, but noted that it presents a problem for Bangladesh. Parks
Shackelford, president of the American Textile Manufacturers Institute (ATMI), while pointing out
that his organization does not believe overshipments should be permitted, said that under the
circumstances, the governments action was a reasonable compromise.
