(CNN) -- Globalization, the lowering of economic borders and growth of trade between countries in virtually every corner of the world, has long been part of the promise of the "new economy." In recent weeks, the debate over trade relations with China has brought the opportunities and risks of global trade into sharp focus.

Congress is debating a bill that would grant China Permanent Normal Trading Relations (PNTR). The debate is a microcosm of the sometimes unsettling shifts brought by the "new economy" -- business groups promise gains, mostly in global trade, while labor unions fear massive job losses, primarily in manufacturing.

So what does this mean for small businesses? According to SBA Administrator Aida Alvarez, huge opportunities. Alvarez told a House subcommittee that in 1997, the most recent year for which statistics are availble, small businesses accounted for more than a third of all exports to China.

Small businesses stand to gain most from more open trade, as they can begin to establish the sort of access larger companies have enjoyed for years, Alvarez said.

Veris, a small Colorado firm that builds industrial flow sensors, was cited by Alvarez as a success story. John Good, the company's sales manager, says he'd expect an immediate improvement if PNTR passes.

"We're estimating we'll do $1 million in sales to China next year, which for us is a lot," Good says. "What we're missing right now is a 20-30 percent increase that we could have if a lot of this red tape was removed."

Critics of PNTR say that the trade deficit, the gap between what the U.S. buys from China and what it sells there, would explode under PNTR. The Economic Policy Institute, a think tank backed in part by labor unions, has predicted an 80 percent increase by 2010.

"Let's sink this rotten proposal that will destroy jobs in this country," said Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) on Friday, asserting that the U.S. trade deficit with the Asian nation would only continue to grow if PNTR was approved.

The Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, counters that the deal allows American companies greater access to China's 1.3 billion consumers, and that if the U.S. doesn't go into that market, someone else will. The European Union has adopted a similar arrangement to the one Congress is considering.

Labor's supporters in Congress are opposing the bill, including House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Missouri), who recently come out against the trade pact.

Another concern of PNTR critics is that the will lose its leverage to influence China's stance on human rights if it grants favorable trade terms to China permanently, rather than continuing to renew it every year.

The United States Commission on International Religious, a government panel that monitors religious liberties in other countries, urged earlier this month that expanded trade privileges for China be withheld by the United States until the Chinese government ceases persecuting a variety of religious groups.

But proponents of PNTR predict that more trade will lead to more contact with capitalism, which will feed the demand for reform among the Chinese.

Good agrees with the latter view. Veris' Chinese partners "learn a lot about the U.S. and the way we do business," he says. "They're talking about, 'how can we do stock options for our employees? How can we do profit sharing?'"