Members of Congress are back in their home districts the week of February 21-25. This is a good time to call or visit their district offices to let them know we are vehemently opposed to permanent Normal Trade Relations (NTR). Normal Trade Relations is what used to be known as Most Favored Nation status.

If Congress grants permanent NTR to China, it means the Congress will permanently give up its leverage for bringing about meaningful change in China's policies relating to trade and worker rights. We believe Congress should not give up this leverage for the WTO trade deal negotiated by the U.S. and China last November because that deal fails to resolve a number of key issues. Specifically, it does not contain effective mechanisms:

• to require China to make progress in recognizing basic human and worker right;
• to stop surges of imports from China that could threaten thousands of American jobs in the automotive, aerospace and other industries; and
• to ensure that China will comply with the various promises it has made, both in past trade agreements and the recently negotiated WTO trade deal.

The Chinese government has adopted automotive and aerospace industrial policies that directly threaten the jobs of UAW members and other American workers in these key industries. The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) determined that the WTO trade deal will actually lead to an increase in our record-high overall trade deficit with China, including an increase in our automotive trade deficit. As with NAFTA, permanent NTR for China will give multinational corporations a green light to shift more investment and production from the U.S. to China, where wages are abysmally low and health and safety protections are completely lacking. This shift in investment will lead to the loss of tens of thousands of job opportunities for American workers.

China has routinely violated past international agreements. Its officials have already repudiated promises that China made in the WTO trade deal that was signed just last November; for example, the Minister of Science and Technology announced on February 16 that the Chinese government intends to continue to protect the country's car makers.

The choice is not between "isolating" China and granting China permanent NTR, as some NTR supporters are saying. We believe that instead of giving China a "blank check," Congress can better advance the interests of our country by keeping things the way they are now, with Congress retaining the ability to annually review China's economic and political policies. Simply stated, if we grant permanent NTR to China, Congress will give up the ability to exert any economic and political pressure to encourage China to recognize human and worker rights, to stop its unfair trading practices, and to honor its international commitments.

Please call or visit your Representative over the Presidents' Day recess and let them know we want them to vote "NO" to permanent Normal Trade Relations for China. Below is a list of key swing Representatives who are especially important to contact:

To telephone your Representative and/or Senators,
call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at:
(202) 224-3121
and ask for their offices.