ABSTRACT
China joined the WTO in November 2001 and was entitled to benefit from the complete liberalization of textiles starting on 1 January 2005. Though it was envisaged that there were going to be export surges and tensions, it was still a major shock for everybody when the ‘tsunami' of Chinese textile exports reached Europe's shores. In such unprecedented circumstances, the EU and China negotiated and bargained in innovative ways to find a solution. The Textile Disputes in 2005 can be divided into two phases. In the first phase (January–June 2005), the European Commission managed to negotiate a voluntary export restriction deal with the Chinese authorities. The second phase (July–September 2005) was dubbed the ‘Bra War' by the British press. The Commission tried to negotiate a burden-sharing solution for releasing blocked textiles with the Chinese side.
