A U.S. trade official on Wednesday hailed the U.S.-China textile trade agreement as instrumental in reducing trade friction.

"Both countries believe the textile agreement from two years ago is functioning well," David Spooner, Assistant Secretary of Commerce, told reporters at the end of his two-day China visit.

The United States and China signed a three-year agreement on textile trade on Nov. 8, 2005. It imposed quotas on Chinese textile products, but cleared a major obstacle to bilateral trade.

"I think the agreement has done a good job of providing predictability, stabilizing trade, and reducing friction," Spooner said.

The United States is the largest importer of China's textile and clothing products.

According to the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textiles (CCCIET), China's direct textiles and attire exports to the United States reached 21.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2006, making up 15.24 percent of the United States market, a drop of 1.42 percentage points from the previous year.

During his two-day stay in Beijing, Spooner met with senior officials of the Chinese Commerce Department.

The U.S. Commerce Department on March 30 announced its preliminary decision to impose anti-subsidy tariffs ranging from 10.9 percent to 20.4 percent on coated free sheet paper from China.

Some people feared that the United States may extend impose penalty tariffs on more imports from China.

Spooner was the first U.S. trade official to visit China after the U.S. imposed the tariffs.

"China is allocating quotas in a transparent way, so I think, (it is) to the benefit and satisfaction of the exporters in China, " he said.

"We obviously haven't seen additional attempts from U.S. textile makers to amend the agreement or to file additional safeguards," he said.

The U.S. government filed a complaint with the WTO in early February, alleging that China was using export subsidies to help its companies, including those in the clothing sector, to compete in world markets.

Source: Xinhua