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China will raise export tariffs on exports of 74 classes of clothing and textile products from June 1, the Ministry of Finance said on Friday, a gesture that might help to appease Western trading partners.

Tariffs on most of those products would rise to 1 yuan ($0.121) per unit from 0.2 yuan, with the largest tariff per item at 4 yuan, the ministry said in a statement posted on its official Web site (www.mof.gov.cn).

Products listed included trousers, T-shirts and underwear.

"The decision was approved by the State Council," the ministry said in its statement.

Under the approved adjustment, tariffs on three categories of clothing, including knitted women's underwears and cotton men's underwear, would be lowered from the current 0.20 yuan to 0.05 yuan per unit.

Also, tariffs on two categories of clothes accessories, now at 0.5 yuan per unit, could be abolished.

For other clothing items not included in adjustments, the export tariffs approved on January 1, 2005 will continue to apply, the statement said.

China had imposed tariffs of 0.2 to 0.3 yuan per item on 148 categories of exports from January 1, 2005 -- just as a decades-long quota regime limiting its textile exports came to an end.