China Jacks Up Its Own Prices

China will drastically raise export tariffs on 74 categories of textile products beginning June, the government said Friday, in an apparent effort to meet U.S. and European demands to stem the flood of cheap Chinese goods.

The increase could be as much as 400 percent for most of the products, the official Xinhua News Agency said in a one-sentence statement. No further details were provided.

China faces pressure from the United States, the European Union and other producers to restrain its textile exports, which have soared since a global quota system ended on Jan. 1.

The United States on Wednesday imposed quotas to limit growth of Chinese imports to 7.5 percent a year. They apply to men's and boy's cotton and man-made fiber shirts, man-made fiber trousers, man-made fiber knit shirts and blouses, and combed cotton yarn.

On May 13, Washington imposed similar restrictions on Chinese-made cotton trousers, cotton knit shirts and underwear.