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Clinton: Extend China's Favored Trade Status

Move will 'bring China into the family of nations and...secure our interests and our ideals'

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, May 19) -- President Bill Clinton today announced he would seek to extend China's favored trade status with the U.S., saying the move would "bring China into the family of nations and ... secure our interests and our ideals." (256K wav sound)

"The United States has a huge stake in the continued emergence of China in a way that is open economically and stable politically," the president told a group of business leaders. (320K wav sound)

Clinton had until early June to make the announcement, but aides said he wanted to go forward with the decision today, in part to avoid allowing opposition in Congress to grow.

"Of course, we hope it will come to respect human rights more and the rule of law more, and that China will work with us to secure an international order that is lawful and decent," Clinton said.

The president then formally made his announcement, along with an attempt to put it in historical context. "I have decided, as all my predecessors have since 1980, to extend most-favored-nation status to China for the coming year. Every Republican and Democratic president since 1980 has made the same decision. This simply means that we extend to China the same normal trade treatment that virtually every other country on earth receives from the United States."

"We believe it's the best way to integrate China further into the family of nations and to secure our interests and our ideals," Clinton said.

"I believe if we were to revoke normal trade status, it would cut off our contact with the Chinese people and undermine our influence with the Chinese government," he said.

Congress can block renewal by passing resolutions of disapproval in both Houses. Clinton could then veto that legislation. Most experts do not believe there is enough opposition to override those vetoes with the required two-thirds majority in each house.

GOP congressional leadership generally supports extending China's trade status. But New York GOP Rep. Gerald B.H. Solomon, who chairs the House's powerful Rules Committee, has threatened to throw a wrench into the works. Solomon thinks controversial campaign-finance figure Charlie Trie is in China, and wants him to return to the U.S. to help those investigating possible Chinese government attempt to influence U.S. elections. Solomon says he'll bottle up the most-favored-nation issue until Trie's return.

China's most-favored-nation renewal is a sensitive issue because of allegations of continued Chinese human-rights abuses, fears of how China will deal with Hong Kong following the July 1 transfer and the campaign-finance allegations.