US House Votes for Extension of China' NTR

WASHINGTON, July 27 (Xinhua) -- The US House of Representatives on Tuesday voted by an overwhelming majority to give support to the extension of Normal Trading Relations(NTR) with China.

The House, in a 260-170 vote, defeated a measure calling for overturn of President Bill Clinton's decision to continue China's NTR status, which will allow the entry of Chinese goods into US market at the same low tariff rates offered to most other nations for another year.

Supporters of Clinton's decision, which was made public on June 3, have argued that cutting off trade ties with China would worsen US-China relations as a whole and undermine American business and consumer interests.

"While we have a boom in our economy, there is no question that in order to sustain this economic boom we're going to have to continue to maintain our technological leadership and expansion in trade," said Representative Charles Rangel, the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee.

He said that the whole thing for the next century is going "to be trade, trade, trade and more trade".
Trade groups here hailed the House vote as a signal for continued efforts by the US government to strengthen business ties with the most populous and economically promising country in the world.

The US Chamber of Commerce, the world's largest business federation representing more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector and region, praised the House for "resisting protectionism, opening markets and securing jobs for American workers" in its vote for normal trade relations with China.

Dana Mead, Chairman of the Business Roundtable (BRT), lauded Tuesday's vote as "the opening round in the fight to finally open the world's largest marketplace to American workers, farmers, products and companies".

"China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) is the next key step -- one we hope Congress will take promptly, once a final market-opening trade agreement is reached," he said in a news release.

Philip M. Condit, Chairman of BRT International Trade & Investment Task force and Chairman & CEO of the Boeing Company, said in a statement that the House vote is "a clear demonstration that Congress and the Administration continue to believe that normal trade with China is crucial to not only strong and stable commercial relations, but to the broader US-China relationship."

He expressed the hope that this strong signal will help move forward the process of negotiating China's accession to the WTO, thereby laying the foundation for US extension of permanent NTR later this year.

The Business Coalition for US-China, in a news release, welcomed the overwhelming vote by the House in support of continued NTR to China, describing it as an indication of "the strength of bipartisan Congressional support for US engagement and for stable and improved US-China relations".

The vote, and the equally overwhelming 87-12 Senate vote on the Smith Resolution last week, "clear the way for speedy resumption of negotiations over the terms and conditions for China's accession to the World Trade Organization," said the group which consists of 1,200 leading American companies, trade associations, and farm organizations.

United Technologies, a 25.7 billion-dollar, Fortune-50 company, also gave blessings to the House vote, saying that it offered support to "hundreds of thousands of American jobs, a strong US economy, and an increased standard of living for Chinese employees."

Ruth R. Harkin, senior vice president for international affairs and government relations of United Technologies Corporation, said in a statement that China, with a quarter of the world's population, provides a market with enormous potential for both large and small US businesses.

"Allowing China into the WTO and granting it permanent normal trade relations will make doing business with China fairer and easier for American companies, resulting in the creation of high-paying, quality jobs and a stronger, more competitive US economy," he added.

The US administrations, no matter whether they come from the Republican or the Democrat Party, have won an uninterruptive support for the annual renewal of China's NTR, used to be known as MFN (Most Favored Nation), from the Congress ever since 1980, despite the ups and downs in relationship between the two countries in the past two decades.