I think this is important…
From http://dorgan.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=251384,
Thursday, February 9, 2006
SENATORS DORGAN, GRAHAM INTRODUCE BIPARTISAN LEGISLATION RESCINDING PERMANENT NORMAL TRADE RELATIONS WITH CHINA
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — U.S. Senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) introduced bipartisan legislation Thursday to repeal Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status for China, citing chronic “cheating” by China that has led to a huge and record-breaking U.S. trade deficit with that country. Dorgan said China is flooding the U.S. with its products while keeping artificial barriers in place and using a variety of unfair trade practices to keep U.S. products out of China.
“China’s trade practices with the U.S. have not been fair from the start,” Dorgan said at a Capitol Hill press conference Thursday morning. ”Since we granted it Permanent Normal Trade Relations status in 2000, our annual trade deficit with China has exploded. It’s two and a half times greater today than it was then, and is expected to total over $200 billion when year end figures are released tomorrow.”
Dorgan said China uses a variety of methods to skirt trade agreements that were supposed to ensure free and fair trade. Among those practices: piracy, currency manipulation, violation of its own labor laws, and unfair barriers to prevent U.S. products from entering the Chinese market.
“There’s nothing normal or fair about any of those methods,” Dorgan said. “China’s track record, and the bulging trade deficit we have with China, makes clear it has not earned Permanent Normal Trade Relations status. It shouldn’t have it. By repealing it and going to a year by year analysis of China’s trade policies and an annual decision on what its trade status should be, we will provide a powerful incentive for China to change its policies and start trading with our country in a way that is fair to American workers, American farmers, and American manufacturers.”
Prior to October 2000, when China was granted PNTR, it was subject to provisions of the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which meant that China was granted normal trade relations only on an annual basis, with renewal subject to congressional approval. Since that time, the U.S. trade deficit with China has ballooned from $83 billion in 2001 to what is expected to be well over $200 billion in 2005.
“The American marketplace is the biggest and best marketplace in the world. Controlling access to that market is the best way to exert some leverage to get China to begin to practice fair trade,” Dorgan said.
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