Legislation to Grant China PNTR Introduced in U.S. Senate

A bill was introduced in the U. S. Senate Thursday to grant China permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status.

The legislation was introduced by William Roth, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and the committee's ranking Democrat, Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York.

"I wish to announce that this morning I and Senator Moyhihan introduced in the Senate the legislation the President sent up to Congress that would enact permanent normal trade relations for China," Roth said at a hearing on U.S. trade with China. "We will require the President's continued strong support and an equally strong bipartisan effort here in Congress to ensure the consideration and movement of this legislation," he said. President Clinton submitted the legislation of granting China PNTR status to Congress earlier this month to ensure that U.S. companies benefit from a landmark trade agreement between the United States and China.

Clinton said the Republican-led Congress must grant China PNTR in exchange for market opening by China, a country now enjoys PNTR status only after an annual congressional review. The vote on the legislation is considered to be the biggest trade battle since the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

The trade initiative enjoys strong support in the Senate, but it faces opposition in the House of Representatives under pressure of the labor unions.

The White House, hoping to get the legislation approved by June, is pressing for a swift vote in the Senate Finance Committee. The committee, responsible for trade legislation in the Senate, is expected to approve the trade bill soon, Senate sources said. "The vote on PNTR will not decide whether China gets into the World Trade Organization (WTO). China will accede to the WTO regardless of how Congress votes on PNTR," Roth said. The Delaware Republican Senator said that the question before Congress is whether U.S. exporters will gain access to the Chinese market on the same terms as their competitors and whether the U.S. will now forego the benefits of the U.S.-China trade deal signed in November last year after 13 years of hard negotiations.

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