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US senators act to repeal China PNTR status
(Agencies/chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-02-10 10:44
That kind of distortion is likely to appear once again on February 10, when
the U.S. Commerce Department is expected to announce that America's trade
deficit with China swelled to a record $200 billion in 2005, the newspaper said.
It may look as though China is getting the big payoff, but over all, the
biggest winners are consumers in the United States and other rich countries, who
have benefited enormously from China's production of cheaper toys, clothing,
electronics and other goods.
At the same time, U.S. multinationals and other foreign companies, including
retailers, are big winners, because they are the largely invisible hands behind
the factories pumping out inexpensive goods from China. And they are reaping the
bulk of the profit from the trade, the paper said.
Senators Unhappy
"There's nothing normal or fair about any of these methods," Dorgan, the
Democratic senator from North Dakota, told a joint news conference with Graham,
a South Carolina legislator from President George W. Bush's Republican Party. "I
think we have reached the tipping point on the issue of China. It cheats in a
way that hurts this country," he said.
Graham acknowledged the legislative action was "drastic in the sense of
politics" but added: "I think it's necessary in the sense of business." The PNTR
status, he said, should only be granted to China on an annual basis subject to
progress on reforms scrutinized by Congress.
The lawmakers did not say when they plan to debate or push for a vote on the
bill but the move comes as U.S. President George W. Bush prepares to welcome his
Chinese counterpart, President Hu Jintao, in April.
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