[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 60 (Tuesday, May 16, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H3148-H3149]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              PERMANENT NORMAL TRADE RELATIONS WITH CHINA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Idaho (Mr. Simpson) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the permanent 
normal trade relations with China.
  Some people view PNTR as a gift that the United States would give to 
China. PNTR with China is, in fact, in the United States' best economic 
interest.
  China is a huge potential market for the United States, as has been 
mentioned, 1.2 billion people, or 20 percent of the world's population. 
Our potential to export to them is enormous.
  Idaho's share of those exports is significant to a small State with a 
million

[[Page H3149]]

people in it. In 1998 alone, Idaho exported nearly $25 million worth of 
merchandise to China. And in the agricultural sector, we exported $833 
million to China.
  Future gains are almost certain under the terms of the bilateral 
agreement and China's WTO accession. Upon accession to the WTO, China's 
average tariff rate of 22 percent will drop to 17 percent for most 
products. In the agricultural sector, the reduction is even more 
significant. The average 31 percent tariff will be reduced to 14 
percent for agricultural products on average.
  In fact, Goldman Sachs estimates that passage of PNTR will increase 
U.S. exports to China by $12.7 billion to $13.9 billion by the year 
2005.

                              {time}  2030

  Although there have been some statements to the contrary that the 
U.S. can reap all of the benefits of this bilateral agreement when 
China accedes to the WTO, the fact is that cannot happen unless PNTR is 
granted to China. That is because one of the cornerstones of the WTO is 
the concept of unconditional most favored nation or normal trade 
relations between WTO members.
  In the agricultural area, PNTR wheat producers believe that they will 
see an increase of 10 percent sales to China with PNTR. In fact, the 
increase of sales of beef will increase even more, I believe, as the 
current tariff rates are reduced from their current level of 45 percent 
to 12 percent by the year 2004. China will also eliminate its export 
subsidies upon WTO accession.
  The U.S., and this is important to remember, Mr. Speaker, the U.S. is 
not required to change any of its market access commitments to achieve 
all of these benefits. In the high tech sector in Idaho, which is a 
growing industry in Idaho, the current duties on information technology 
products such as computers, electronics, fiberoptics, cable and other 
telecommunication equipment currently average 13 percent but will be 
eliminated by January 1, 2005. In addition, trading and distribution 
rights for IT products will be phased in over 3 years. This means that 
companies in my congressional district, such as Micron and Hewlett-
Packard, will be able to build upon their current exports to China 
which currently average around 6 percent. Mr. Speaker, this is a very 
important vote for Congress. I understand and agree with the concerns 
of my colleagues with regards to human rights in China. But I believe 
that we will change China more by being engaged with China rather than 
standing back and throwing stones. In fact, it was interesting. Today I 
had several students from Taiwan in my office. One would think that 
Taiwan would be opposed to accession of China into the WTO because of 
the aggressive nature that China has expressed toward Taiwan but these 
students told me, and I have confirmed with the President elect of 
Taiwan that they support accession of China into the WTO because they 
believe that active engagement with China will make China more like 
Taiwan and will free Taiwan and make them more economically free.
  Mr. Speaker, this potentially is the most important vote that we will 
cast in this Congress. I urge my colleagues to support PNTR for China.

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