Representatives from the European Union and China have ended a first day of talks in Beijing to try to resolve the deadlock over European quotas imposed on Chinese textile products.
Around $1bn of Chinese-made garments remain stranded at European ports because China has exceeded this year's quotas, designed to protect the EU from a flood of cheap Chinese imports.
The negotiations are due to resume tomorrow.
Europe's biggest high street names have warned that their shelves may start to empty if the goods are not released.
The director of the British retail consortium in Brussels, Alister Gray, has warned that the situation was spiralling out of control.
