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Speaker of the House of Representatives Dennis Hastert
(R-Ill.) announced in early April that the House will vote on
permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) for China the week of May
22. TIA encourages its members and all interested parties to contact
their representatives before the vote to urge passage of the bill
guaranteeing normalized trade with China. The Issue Each year since 1980, the U.S. Congress has undertaken debate on whether to grant China annual most favored nation (MFN) status, but has always voted in favor of renewal. The term normal trade relations (NTR) replaced MFN in the United States by an act of Congress in 1988, but is its functional equivalent. According to rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), all members must grant each other unconditional MFN status. Accordingly, the U.S. Congress must grant PNTR status for China to lock in the full benefits of China's WTO concessions. This year, the fight over permanent NTR status for China has had both sides of the debate coming out strongly and in large numbers. The White House submitted a bill in March asking Congress to pass unconditional PNTR. The bill put no conditions on the passage of PNTR. Since that time, however, there have been many pieces of "parallel legislation"1 brought forward by members of Congress who want to see the debate over China continue, even if it is outside the scope of the PNTR vote. At this time, it is not clear which of these pieces of parallel legislation will move forward. As of mid-April, the number of Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives that supported PNTR for China was just about even with the number opposing the issue. Because a large number of congressmen and congresswomen are still undecided on the issue, the lobbying activity will continue in force. The Senate is largely supportive of free trade and is therefore expected to pass PNTR without much contention. If the United States does not approve unconditional PNTR -- thereby denying China the same WTO rights it grants other WTO members -- China will not grant, and is not required to grant, U.S. companies the package of benefits U.S. negotiators finalized last November in the accession negotiations. The November deal is a strong package that took the United States and China 13 years to negotiate because the United States would not accept any deal that did not hold China to the same rigorous standards as all other WTO members. Because U.S. markets are already open and China had to make many concessions to meet WTO standards, the negotiations were extremely favorable to U.S. interests.  TIA Home | Industry Beat | TIA Press Releases | Subscribe | Past Issues Letter from the President | Inside Washington | TIA Around the Globe | Small Company Focus Trade Shows and Marketing Opportunities | Standards Update | Member Spotlight New TIA Members | Member News | Market Forecast | Calendar of Events | PulseOnline Home Contact Us: Rali Mileva rmileva@tia.eia.org or Melanie Phung mphung@tia.eia.org |