"It showed the government wanted companies to cope with the crisis by adjustments such as internal industrial upgrades and product structure alteration," said Zhao Yumin, a researcher with the Commerce Ministry.

She said the recent economic stimulus plans had hardly touched on the textile industry, where profits were being squeezed by several factors: stricter environmental requirements, new labor laws, rising land and power costs and a stronger local currency.

The US textile industry remained unhappy about the expirations and wanted the US government to be prepared to act if there was a surge of imports.

Many domestic companies said they cannot tell what the future holds.

Sun said when the new US president takes office, he might not take action with a view to avoiding trade friction.

However, if the US economy remains weak and protectionism rises, the United States might use quotas or licenses to curb imports from China.

Zhao said governments must guard against rising protectionism amid a global economic downturn. If the US government moves to protect its textile industry, which has been largely transferred to other countries, both Chinese exporters and US consumers will pay.

"It is also possible that the United States will use its status as the world's largest textile importer to keep China from getting a big market share and thus support other economies," she said.

In early 2005, a surge in Chinese textile and clothing exports to the United States coincided with the expiration of an international quota system. The United States responded by imposing emergency "safeguard" curbs.

Later in 2005, Washington and Beijing negotiated a broad pact that re-established 21 quotas covering 34 categories of textiles and clothing through the end of 2008. It was that agreement that ended on Wednesday.

(Xinhua News Agency January 1, 2009)