Gov. Mark Sanford and Commerce Secretary Bob Faith offered no immediate remedy Thursday for the thousands of workers who have been laid off this year as a result of plant closings.

Sanford said the layoffs, 1,100 of which were announced this week, “mirror what is happening elsewhere in the textile belt.” The governor and Faith spoke with reporters by telephone from China where they are on an Asian trade mission.

The best way to help South Carolina’s economy grow, Sanford said, is a three-pronged strategy that includes income tax reform, attracting capital and investment and leveraging the state’s research universities in emerging technologies.

Faith said the state will continue to aggressively market for expanding business and new investment.

The Commerce secretary said he expects a couple of announcements from the Asian trip. The party moves to Japan next week.

“I’m bringing in my big gun, the governor, to try to close some deals,” Faith said about the meetings planned in that country.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the governor and I came home with a couple of pelts to put on the wall,” he said.

An expected $70 million deal between the Chinese Ministry or Railroads and two Midlands companies apparently will not be announced before the governor’s party leaves China.

Harsco Track Technologies and ImageMap have an initialed contract with the Chinese for railroad track infrastructure equipment. Officials had hoped the contract would be formally signed in meetings with the governor.

Faith said the delegation had a good meeting with the Chinese Minister of Railroads and that he was pleased with the direction of talks, but the contract has not been signed yet.

Faith said he wouldn’t be surprised if it is signed next week when U.S. Secretary of Commerce Don Evans visits China.

“If the governor is my big gun, then Secretary Evans is my really big gun,” he said.

Sanford and Faith announced a preliminary agreement on a $14 million contract between three Chinese companies and Palmetto Partners International to export soybeans to China.

The contract is significant because of the size of the Chinese export market for soybeans. China normally exports through large companies like Archer Daniels Midlands. U.S. sales of soybeans to China have approached $1 billion in recent years.

The contract with Palmetto Partners would be one of the first with a small- to medium-sized company, Faith said.

Faith said he met with several Chinese companies concerning investment in South Carolina and has several interesting prospects.

He also met with executives of Haier Group, the Chinese appliance manufacturer, to urge expansion of the company’s refrigerator plant near Camden.

Faith and Commerce employees have been in China since Oct. 16 meeting with business and government officials.

Sanford joined the group Monday in Beijing. The meetings have focused more on Chinese trade practices that are viewed as harmful to the U.S. economy, especially to the textile industry.

Sanford and Faith — accompanied by U.S. ambassador to China , Clark T. Randt — met Thursday with the Chinese vice premier to discuss trade.

Sanford described his meetings with Chinese officials as respectful but forceful.

“We have a boiling pot and if the pressure is not let out, it will explode,” Sanford said. That explosion would most likely take the form of trade sanctions against China, he said.

Chinese officials say they are adhering to the letter of World Trade Organization agreements.

Sanford said he wants the Chinese to realize the issue is about politics, not the WTO.

The governor said China needs to realize America’s loss of manufacturing jobs because of Chinese trade policies is that country’s problem, too.