Summers Urges PNTR as U.S. Releases Trade Agreement With China

U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers said Tuesday it will bring about "enormous" "commercial advantages" for the United States if the U.S. Congress passes the legislation President Bill Clinton sent last week advocating Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) with China.

"This vote is not about whether China will enter the WTO," because "after China completes its agreements with other countries, it will join the WTO," Summers told a meeting of the Electronics

Industry Association here in Washington.

Summers' speech coincided with the release Tuesday of the full text of the trade agreement signed by the United States and China last November, which paved the way for China's entry into the WTO.

The Clinton administration's new move is apparently to press Congress to adopt the proposed legislation for China PNTR.

Summers said that in order to benefit from China's entry into the world trading bloc, the United States must first grant it the same permanent normal trading status that it has already granted to every other country with whom the U.S. shares the benefits of the WTO.

"There is no disadvantage to the United States in passing the PNTR legislation," he said. "All that PNTR does is ensure that America enjoys the benefits that every other country will obtain."

The passage of PNTR for China, Summers said, would allow the United States secure "unprecedented new access to what could ultimately become the largest market in the world" as a result of the agreement concluded by the two sides last fall.

"China has come a long way since the beginnings of market reforms a little over 20 years ago. Its economy has grown by more than 350 percent in real terms. It has risen to being the eleventh largest trading nation in the world. And the number of Chinese with access to a television has risen 100 fold, to one billion," he said.

China's accession to the WTO, Summers said, will result in "a more rapid process of market opening and reform of its economy" and the United States has "an enormous economic and broader stake in supporting that decision."

He also argued that bringing China into the community of nations "is a policy that supports our deepest national security interests."

"If the next quarter century in Asia is to be as successful as the last, it will be crucial that China define its greatness in a constructive way and that it fit into the global economic system," he said.

Meanwhile, according to media reports, Commerce Secretary William Daley told a group of wheat dealers Monday that he believes the legislation for China PNTR can get through Congress if the vote is cast in May.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, in a speech to the electronic business leaders Monday, also called on the high-tech companies to exert their influence to turn around those who are opposed to

China PNTR.

Hastert stressed that granting China trade status proves crucial for the electronic industry because the failure of this will lead to the full occupation of China's enormous market by multinational corporations from Europe, Japan and Hong Kong.

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