Keine Entspannung im Handelsstreit zwischen China und den USA sieht die New York Times: China's promise to impose new taxes on some textile exports will do little to sway the administration as it debates whether to limit the expected flood of Chinese goods next year, trade groups on both sides of the argument said yesterday. The European Union, however, welcomed the Chinese announcement and reaffirmed that it would lift its textile quotas without limits. "We're clear on this. We made our commitments back in 1994 and we will be delivering on those commitments," said Anthony Gooch, a spokesman for the European Union in Washington. "As of January 2005, we will be lifting those quotas." But a spokeswoman at the Commerce Department, Mary Brown Brewer, resisted making a judgment about the new Chinese proposal because critical details about the plan were missing, including the size of the tax. Instead, Ms. Brewer repeated the administration's pledge to oversee an orderly transition in the United States after the global quotas are lifted and "to promote the competitiveness of U.S. industry and level the playing field for American workers." The United States is expected to make its final decision about limiting Chinese imports beginning in February. Members of the World Trade Organization agreed a decade ago to lift all trade quotas on textiles and apparel on Jan. 1, 2005, to permit the free flow of goods around the globe. But as the date nears, manufacturers in the United States and other textile-producing countries have been scrambling to protect their industries. Analysts have predicted that China could capture as much as 70 percent of the American market over the next two years.