The president of Fast Retailing Co., which operates the Uniqlo clothing store chain, said Friday that the limiting of inexpensive clothing imports from China would weaken the company in the long term.
Tadashi Yanai said, however, that the company would not be affected by the safeguard import curb in the near future.
"If the safeguard curb is imposed, our company would be given priority to obtain clothing in China because we have consistently imported a large quantity of clothing," he said at a press conference in Tokyo. "But in the long run, our strength would be reduced."
While Fast Retailing, which makes 90 percent of its Uniqlo apparel in China, has rapidly increased sales in recent years, many domestic garment manufacturers are calling for import limits.
Under World Trade Organization regulations, countries are permitted to impose emergency import curbs when domestic industries are threatened.
Yanai reiterated that protectionism, such as imposing the safeguard curb, counters free-trade-expansion principles.
"It is our mission to offer consumers better quality clothing at lower prices by importing materials from countries (with lower labor costs)," he said.