The United States signaled its willingness to resolve textile trade problems with China, but not before both countries had issued more threats in a dispute over new U.S. import quotas.

In an interview with Reuters, U.S. Commerce Secretary Don Evans said he was confident the two sides could fix the frictions that emerged this week when the United States announced it would restrict imports of bras, dressing gowns and knit fabrics from China.

"What has impressed me about the current leadership of China ... is their willingness to sit down and have a constructive, good faith, good will dialogue about how to work our way through these issues," Evans said. "There''s a whole suite of options as to how we can look at this issue."

That could include negotiating a comprehensive textile trade agreement between the two countries, but Evans did not want to single that out as a favored option.

Earlier, in a speech on the sidelines of a Western Hemisphere trade ministers'' meeting, Evans defended the quotas as a legal "safeguard" measure under World Trade Organization rules and warned China it must play fair if it expected to sell its goods in the United States.