A year in which a global system of textile quotas ended and countries had to get serious about a highly contentious World Trade Organisation agreement on tariffs was always going to raise difficulties for free trade. And four months into the year, rising protectionist sentiment on both sides of the Atlantic has arrived bang on cue with a combination of events pushing it rapidly up the political agenda.

The immediate trigger has been the increase in Chinese textile imports following the lifting of global quotas on January 1. In the US, this has sparked a larger backlash against China that could affect trade flows in other industries too. US textile companies have long tried to keep out low-cost imports, but their complaints are now winning broader support from small and mid-sized US manufacturers that generally support freer trade. The US is now poised to reimpose quotas on as many as 17 categories of textile imports from China. The first of the investigations will be completed in early July.