Washington, DC  -  Congressman Mike Rogers praised the Bush administration today for its efforts to help protect and strengthen Alabama’s textile industry, saying recent quotas imposed on bras, dressing gowns and other knit fabrics from China are vital to prohibit further job losses.

“Too many hard working Alabamians have lost their jobs because of unfair competition from Chinese textile manufacturers,” Rogers said. “I applaud Secretary Evans for imposing these quotas, and hope it sends a message to Chinese state-owned and state-subsidized firms that the United States will not tolerate more U.S. job losses as a result of unfair competition.”

This week, Commerce Secretary Don Evans announced it would impose quotas on imports of bras, dressing gowns and knit fabrics from China in response to a "safeguard" petition filed by domestic textile firms. The petitions were filed by the textile industry under a special provision of China’s WTO accession agreement that allows the U.S. and other WTO members to impose temporary quotas on textile imports from China in the event those imports are found to cause ‘market disruption.’

“We want to send a clear message that when it comes to free trade, America is open for business,” Secretary Evans said this week. “But it's got to be a level playing field. All of us have got to be able to look our workers in the eye and say we're all playing by the same rules.”