Statement of BRT International Trade and Investment Task Force Chairman Philip M. Condit (Chairman and CEO, the Boeing Company)

The Business Roundtable (BRT) released the following statement after House Speaker Dennis Hastert announced today that the vote for Permanent Normal Trade Relations Status for China will take place the week of May 22, 2000:

"It is important to remember that this vote is a clear and important choice. Will Congress choose to bring to life a landmark trade agreement that offers America's workers, farmers and businesses hundreds of unilateral concessions to export their products into the world's largest marketplace with 1.3 billion people? Or, will this unprecedented opportunity be handed to America's foreign competitors?

"We are confident that Congress will choose engagement over isolation and not squander this vital opportunity. This agreement is in our national interests, and the business community fully intends to make sure this story gets told.

"America's business community congratulates the House Republican leadership for its foresight and decisiveness in setting this critical vote."

The BRT is supporting passage of PNTR in Washington and nationally through its goTRADE organization. The goTRADE initiative is a national grassroots trade education campaign that has mobilized thousands of individuals and businesses across America to call on Congress to pass PNTR. For more information visit www.brt.org and http://www.gotrade.org/.