The Bush administration said Tuesday that it would restrict imports of three types of Chinese textile imports, a move that could help save U.S. jobs but may worsen global trade tensions. The textile industry cheered the decision, saying it should be just a first step toward restraining the onslaught of Chinese imports.

"What this has done is prevent the beginning of a wave of massive employment losses in the textile and apparel sector" in the coming year, Cass Johnson, interim president of the American Textile Manufacturers Institute, said in a conference call with reporters.  But unless the administration imposes even more restrictions, Cass said, an industry study estimates "we would see losses, within 3 1/2 years, of 650,000 textile and apparel workers in the United States."  Grant Aldonas, the under secretary of the Commerce Department, said in a conference call that because of a "dramatic surge" in Chinese imports, the government would impose "safeguard" restraints for one year on knit fabric, robes and bras.  Last year, the volume of Chinese goods shipped to U.S. customers shot up 117 percent following the elimination of certain quotas, according to trade groups.

Textile quotas are scheduled to be fully phased out by Jan. 1, 2005 as part of an agreement with World Trade Organization (WTO) members. But the agreement contains provisions that would allow the United States to impose temporary protections through 2008 if imports were to cause market disruptions. Textile and apparel companies say Chinese imports have risen so fast they are wiping out U.S. jobs at an unprecedented rate. Since President Bush took office in January 2001, more than 318,000 textile and apparel jobs have disappeared.

Bush, who must stand for re-election in 2004, has come under intense political pressure to do more to save manufacturing jobs. Last month, 165 members of Congress signed letters to Bush urging him to help the textile industry. But Bush also is getting pressure from many corporations to expand free trade, which they say holds down consumer prices. For example, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. imported more than $12 billion in goods from China last year.  Erik Autor, vice president of the National Retail Federation, a powerful trade group for store owners, said in a prepared statement that "this ruling will create shortages that could lead to dramatic increases in prices for American consumers while doing nothing to protect American jobs."

Autor said the imposition of safeguards is "a bad precedent." to set, especially at a time when the United States is trying to convince our trading partners to lower their own trade barriers and eliminate protectionism."   Quota opponents also say Chinese import restrictions will do little to save jobs in the long run because manufacturers will simply shift more production to Vietnam, Thailand, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, eastern Europe, Morocco, Turkey and elsewhere.   "Not a single job is going to come back to the United States because of this decision," Laura Jones, executive director of the U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel, said in a statement. "Slapping the quota on China will merely shift the trade to other countries, mostly in Asia."