U.S. seeks Chinese textile agreement
The Bush administration announced Thursday that it will try to reach a comprehensive agreement with China to stem a surge of clothing and textile imports flooding into the United States.
Officials said that a U.S. negotiating team will travel to San Francisco next week for two days of preliminary talks next Tuesday and Wednesday.
The administration has already re-imposed quotas on several categories of Chinese clothing imports at the request of the U.S. industry, which has contended that a surge of shipments since global quotas were removed on Jan. 1 has cost thousands of U.S. textile jobs already and forced the closing of a number of plants.
David Spooner, the administration’s special textile negotiator in the office of U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman, will lead the U.S. delegation, which will also be composed of officials from the departments of Commerce, State, Labor and Treasury.
“In our numerous consultations with our domestic textile and apparel industries and members of Congress, we heard unambiguous calls for a more comprehensive approach to textile trade with China,” Spooner said in a statement announcing the decision. “As a result, we will commence negotiations on a broad agreement with the Chinese.”
Banker pleads guilty in tax conspiracy case
New York A former New York banker pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy and fraud charges Thursday, admitting that he helped cheat the government out of hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues by promoting tax shelters for the rich.
Domenick Degiorgio, 42, of Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to conspiracy, a scheme to defraud his employer and tax evasion.
He said he carried out the fraud while he worked at the Manhattan office of a German bank, Bayerische Hypo und Vereinsbank.
The plea comes as federal prosecutors were negotiating a settlement with KPMG in which the New York-based accounting giant would avoid criminal charges for its role in selling the same type of tax shelters, according to a report Thursday in the New York Times. The Times said the talks were “fragile” and criminal charges were still possible.
7-Eleven cracks down on tobacco sales
Dallas Convenience-store leader 7-Eleven Inc., the nation’s largest cigarette retailer, has agreed to toughen its procedures to catch underage shoppers who try to buy tobacco products.
In a deal announced Thursday and covering stores in about 30 states, 7-Eleven agreed not to place tobacco signs next to products popular with minors, to ban vending machines for tobacco and remove outward-facing window signs for tobacco within 500 feet of schools or playgrounds.
According to a recent survey, a quarter of high school seniors said they smoke cigarettes, and tobacco is 7-Eleven’s biggest-selling product, accounting for 29.1 percent of its sales in the United States and Canada last year.
The Dallas-based company also agreed to require a government-issued photo identification for any shopper who appears to be under 27.