Mandelson this week pledged to unblock trapped cargo to help retailers that he originally accused of sneaking goods into the EU 'under the wire'.
British Retail Consortium (BRC) Brussels office director Alisdair Gray attributed the change of heart to pressure from retail bodies. He said: 'The BRC has managed to change Mr Mandelson's position completely - from criticising the sector, to saying exactly what we've been saying all along.'
In a letter dated August 12, the BRC asked Mandelson to allow all goods shipped before July 12 not to be counted in quotas.
As Retail Week went to press, the trade commissioner was in a meeting to propose just this to the EU's 25 member states. France, Spain and Italy - all big textile producers - may be most resistant to his proposals.
Mandelson said: 'I cannot accept that EU retail businesses should be penalised unfairly by the introduction of the agreement we made with China. I have therefore set in motion procedures to unblock the goods that have been caught.'
More than 80 million garments were still stranded outside European ports this week, after the EU introduced limits on categories of Chinese textile imports on July 12 to safeguard EU manufacturers.
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has criticised the EU's handling of the crisis. On Tuesday, its director-general Sir Digby Jones said: 'It is totally unacceptable that the UK retail sector, already under pressure, is being jeopardised in this way.'
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