Soon, in Congress, there will be a vote on whether the United States should establish Permanent Normal Trade Relations for China (PNTR). While the answer to that issue is a very difficult one for many representatives, we can be helped in our deliberations by posing certain questions. In other words, the response to the answer may well lie in knowing what the questions are.

Below, you will find background information and some of the relevant questions surrounding this important foreign policy debate. You can help me, in my search for the right answer, by indicating what you think and how you would respond to the questions raised. You can do so by contacting me by mail, at this Web Site or by telephone.

CHINA PNTR
Background Information
"Who will be helped.......Who will be hurt?"

In November, 1999, following nearly a decade and a half of negotiations, the United States and China entered into a bilateral trade agreement that will forever alter relations between the two countries. Under the agreement, trade barriers, previously imposed by China against American goods and services, will be eased or removed.

China seeks PNTR from the United States because that status will facilitate China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). While PNTR is not a condition precedent to China's entry into the WTO, without it, such entry will be more difficult. The WTO, which was established in 1995, is currently composed of 135 countries and territories and accounts for 90% of global trade. Another 30 countries are seeking to join. The WTO stands for an open, international, rules-based trading system.

The Questions

Many commentators consider China PNTR to be an economic boost for America, while serving our strategic and security interests and promoting the principles upon which our Nation is grounded. Others say that it will mean job losses and will not end China's labor and human rights violations. At the end of the day, each of us in Congress, in deciding how to vote on China PNTR, must consider who among our constituents will be helped by this vote and who will be hurt. What is the answer? Consider the questions.

First and foremost, we must understand, in North Carolina, who the winners and who the losers will be if China is given PNTR status by the United States. Clearly, certain sectors of the service industry will win by having access to China's 1.3 billion consumers. Those industries include electronics, high tech, telecommunications, banking, insurance, financial, professional, hotel, restaurant, tourism, motion pictures, video distribution, software entertainment distribution, periodicals distribution, business, computer, environmental and related services. These industries will win, it is argued, because of reduced tariffs, strong intellectual property protection and improved trade rules.

In addition, the agricultural community expects to benefit because our farmers will no longer be denied access to the great market of 1.3 billion in China who have need and desire for more quality food products; China has agreed to eliminate barriers not based in science, such as restrictions on meat and poultry; China has agreed to reduce tariffs and allow the import of a wide range of American agricultural products, including pork, poultry, seafood, processed food, wood products and tobacco; and China will end its import monopoly for bulk commodities and establish large, low-duty tariff-rate quotas for cotton.

Current discussions with the Chinese government on removing the barrier of blue mold against North Carolina's tobacco are also promising. Opponents of China PNTR point first to China's past unwillingness to open its markets to U.S. goods and services as well as its disregard for basic human rights and labor standards. According to those in the Labor Movement, since 1995, America's trade deficit with China has doubled. In 1996 alone, they say, some 600,000 U.S. workers lost their jobs due to trade with China.

Moreover, it is argued by Labor that there is not a waiting market for America's agricultural products. Indeed, they say, China has a substantial surplus of agricultural products, a "glut," enough to adequately fulfill its domestic demands. Predictions of major increases in the export of America's agricultural products has been called "Fantasy." But, even if America can achieve some trade benefit from China, will that benefit trickle down to small farmers in Eastern North Carolina? Will that benefit outweigh the burden of job losses? North Carolina lost 32,000 jobs last year, many of the losses attributed to job flight to foreign markets other than China.

And, China continues to detain its citizens in forced labor camps, use children for laborers, hold thousands of persons without trial, keep political prisoners, jail clergy and priests and even continue to hold hundreds of the 1989 protesters from Tiananmen Square in jail. The U.S. Department of State has reported that, in China, there are widespread human rights abuses, including torture and mistreatment of prisoners, forced confessions, arbitrary arrests, lengthy incommunicado detention and harsh prison conditions. State also reports tight restrictions on freedom of speech and worker rights, discrimination against women and minorities and abuse of children.

What Is Really At Stake?

China does not need PNTR to join the WTO. Under WTO rules, by signing a series of bilateral agreements with WTO member countries and obtaining a two-thirds vote from those countries, China will be allowed to enter the WTO 30 days following that vote. Moreover, it is not necessary to grant China PNTR in order for U.S. companies to benefit from an agreement with China.

Also, it is important to note, that historically China has failed to adhere to other agreements it has signed with the United States and , for that matter, with other countries as well. Admittance of China into the WTO does not guarantee that China adhere to international trade rules.

On the other hand, the agreement that China has made with the United States as part of its effort to join the WTO is completely one-sided, in favor of the United States, and in and of itself, may indicate a change in China's trade posture. The United States gave up nothing to reach the agreement. And, America currently enjoys a trade surplus with China when it comes to agricultural goods.

Who Wins, Who Loses?

Who are really the Winners and Losers with China PNTR? It is a very complex issue. There can be benefits for America, but are there benefits for Eastern North Carolina? We can increase trade with China, but will it mean an increase in job losses for Eastern North Carolina? With the rapid advancement of high technology, there are two Americas and, unfortunately, two North Carolinas. Must Eastern North Carolina lose in order for the Research Triangle to win? Do small farmers have the resources to sell to China? May I hear from you?