The European Union (EU)'s restrictions on importing Chinese textile products is hurting millions of common consumers, the Financial Times reported on August 25.

The latest clothing crisis, described as the biggest since the second World War, demonstrates how badly the EU conducts its business, the paper said.

Had the Chinese textile deal been properly discussed and debated, it is unlikely that it would have survived the scrutiny, it said.

Peter Mandelson, the EU's trade commissioner, has created a "bridgehead" for other industries keen on their own form of protectionism, said the paper.

As soon as he finished his talks in Beijing, he was being lobbied by shoe manufacturers for further protectionism for their goods, the Financial Times wrote.

The whole sorry episode, the paper said, is "a reminder to us all that there can be no let up in the fight for economic reform, liberalization and free trade."

David Willets, a Financial Times columnist, said that the British government should tell the trade commissioner that it opposes these quotas.

There can be no compromise in the battle against protectionism,he said, adding that "free trade is the best way to deliver sustained prosperity." Free trade in the textile industry was achieved at last in January this year, with the end of the 1974 Multifibre Trade Agreement. But as Chinese textile exports soared, Mandelson asked the Chinese to sign a voluntary export agreement with the EU.

The agreement limits growth in imports of 10 categories of Chinese textiles to between 8 and 12.5 percent per year for 2005, 2006 and 2007. On May 17, the EU warned it would issue sanctions against the Chinese if they would not comply.

But the "disastrous" events of the past few weeks show "how wrong he was," the paper said.