China WTO Deal Called "Most Significant Market Access Agreement in U.S. History"

(WASHINGTON, D.C.-Jan. 26, 2000)- In an effort to highlight the benefits of expanded trade with China for America's workers, farmers and businesses, The Business Roundtable (BRT) launched a major print advertising campaign today. The issue "advertorials" explain the value - industry sector by industry sector - of expanded trade with China, the world's largest emerging marketplace, and aim to build support for extending Permanent Normal Trade Relations status (PNTR) to China.

"For America's farmers, manufacturers and service providers, this deal is the economic equivalent of tearing down the Berlin Wall," said BRT President Samuel L. Maury. "With 96 percent of the world's population living outside our borders, it is critical that we reach new markets. Passing PNTR legislation is the crucial next step in enacting the most significant market access agreement in United States history. This agreement will open doors to a marketplace containing 1.2 billion customers-one-out-of-five people on the planet," Maury added.

Passing PNTR legislation would complete a process that started with the signing of the landmark market access agreement with China to allow it to join the World Trade Organization (WTO). For the United States to fully realize the benefits of the agreement, Congress must pass PNTR legislation. WTO rules require that member nations grant each other unconditional normal trade relations status. Current U.S. law requires that China's status be renewed each year.

The BRT has created nearly 20 ads on issues ranging from agriculture to automobiles, services to citrus. The ads demonstrate how the China WTO deal knocks down hundreds of barriers that will open the world's largest market to everything from U.S. pork products to computer parts.

The agriculture ad, for example, notes that "China could account for 37 percent of the future growth in American agricultural products" and could mean "an additional $700 million in citrus exports; another $135 million to dairy exports; and America's pork producers could gain access to the world's largest market for pork."

In addition to agriculture, sectors analyzed in the series of ads include manufacturing, high-tech, telecommunications, services and more. The ads are running in publications distributed on Capitol Hill and will soon run in local newspapers in congressional districts across the country.

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