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Senate approves trade bill with China
WASHINGTON -- The Senate approved a bill Tuesday that will stabilize trade relations between the United States and China. The bill, which needs U.S. President Bill Clinton's signature to become law, gives China permanent normal trade relations, or PNTR. Once it's law, the 20-year-old ritual of annually reviewing China's trade status will end, and Chinese goods will be guaranteed lower-tariff access to the U.S. market. Currently, under a 1974 law, trade relations with communist states must be reviewed annually. The bill is aimed at opening up China's markets, bringing billions of dollars in new business to American companies and making China a more responsible and accountable member of the world community. In exchange for the benefits, China has agreed to open a wide range of markets, from agriculture to telecommunications. Labor, human rights and conservative groups oppose the measure. Those organizations say it is wrong to give up the annual review of China trade. Critics say the bill puts profits over people. Since the 1989 crackdown on the Tiananmen Square student movement, the annual review has given lawmakers a way to highlight China's increase in weapons and persecution of its citizens. Passage called a turning pointThe legislation, the most important trade bill since the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement, enjoys the backing of Clinton, the congressional Republican leadership and the nation's major business and agriculture groups. Both presidential candidates, Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush, support permanent trade. The White House said the bill's final passage by the Senate would mark a turning point in relations between the world's richest and most populous nations, comparing it to former President Richard Nixon's milestone 1972 visit to China. "Granting PNTR for China not only provides tremendous economic opportunities for U.S. workers, farmers and businesses, it is also the best way to promote reform in China and stability in the region," U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky said. China will open marketsThe legislation is a consequence of a trade agreement between the United States and China last fall that opened the way for China's entry into the World Trade Organization. With WTO membership, China will make significant cuts in its tariffs while opening its markets to the products and investment of America and other countries. China must also grant Americans and others the right to set up distribution points within the country, open its financial and service sectors to international competitors and allow outside participation in its Internet and telecommunications development. The United States, which already has open markets, did not give up any right or privilege as part of the agreement, but it must grant permanent trade status before it can share in China's market-opening measures. The PNTR legislation would go into effect when China joins the WTO, probably late this year or early next year. Labor put up fight in HouseThere was never any real doubt about the fate of the bill in the Senate, where free-trade initiatives typically receive broad bipartisan support. A Reuters poll showed at least 70 of the chamber's 100 senators would back the measure in Tuesday's vote. Labor unions put up little resistance in the Senate to permanent normal trade relations. By contrast, labor mounted an aggressive grass-roots campaign in the House, warning that the pact could cost hundreds of thousands of American workers their jobs as Chinese goods flood the U.S. market and companies move their factories to China to take advantage of lower wages. Other opponents said the bill would worsen an already huge U.S. trade deficit, or shortfall, with China, which hit a record $68 billion last year. A small but determined band of China critics tried to kill the bill in the Senate by bogging it down with amendments, or changes -- the most severe one would have imposed sanctions on Beijing for its alleged role in increasing weapons. But the amendments were soundly defeated, clearing the way for final passage. Critics call bill a 'sellout'In addition to granting permanent trade benefits to Beijing, the bill will set up a special commission to monitor human rights in China. The panel could also recommend sanctions, such as a halt to support for Beijing from the U.S. Export-Import Bank and U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corp. China has already protested what it sees as U.S. interference in its internal affairs. In two weeks of Senate debate, Beijing's critics lashed out at Clinton for striking a deal with a communist regime they accused of threatening Taiwan, proliferating weapons of mass destruction and oppressing its own people. U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Kentucky, warned that it was a "dangerous mistake" for Congress to give away its voice on trade relations when China's security threats and human rights abuses are getting worse. "We are putting profits over people," he said. "It's plain wrong, and it's un-American." Minnesota Democrat Paul Wellstone called the trade bill a "virtual wish list for multinational corporations." West Virginia Democrat Robert Byrd called the Senate vote a "sellout." "Are we to turn a blind eye to every deeply held principle we have as a people about justice and freedom and right and wrong, with pie-in-the-sky promises of economic gain? I hope not." Byrd said. "That would be much, much more than a sellout. That would be a shame." 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