US Lawmakers to Visit ChinaThe United States has cancelled a scheduled trip to China by a group of US lawmakers and consolidated it with another delegation that was scheduled to come later this month, US Embassy spokesman John Berry was quoted as saying on April 14 in Beijing.The delegation was expected to be led by US Commerce Secretary William Daley and was to arrive in Beijing on Saturday to meet with senior Chinese leaders before moving on to the booming coastal city of Shanghai. It was still uncertain if Daley would accompany the later delegation, to be led by agriculture secretary Dan Glickman, the US Embassy officials said. Some 10 congressmen were expected to visit Beijing this weekend, while only four others had signed up for the Glickman trip, one official said. The two congressional delegations were organized by the the White House in an effort to persuade Congress to extend PNTR to China as part of a landmark agreement that will greatly open Chinese markets to US businesses and push forward China's expected entry into the World Trade Organization. US labor unions and environmental groups are opposing PNTR for China, despite a potential loss of huge trade benefits that US businesses will reap when China joins the WTO. PNTR is a reciprocal trade status mutually granted to all members of the WTO. If China fails to get PNTR, it will not be required to offer the US the same market openings and tariffs promised to other WTO trading partners upon its entry into the global trading body. |
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