Mandelson moves to cool China textiles furore

Europe’s trade chief moved on Thursday to cool a clamour for curbs on Chinese textile imports, welcoming steps by Beijing to tame a surge of shipments unleashed by the end of a global quotas regime on January 1. Peter Mandelson said China must act quickly and spell out additional step it plans to slow its exports of cheap clothing and textiles, or face the imposition of ‘‘safeguards’’ to protect an industry that employs 2.5 million people in Europe. — Reuters