[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 10 (Monday, March 13, 2000)]
[Pages 493-494]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Congress on Permanent Normal Trade Relations Status for 
China

March 8, 2000

To the Congress of the United States:

    Last November, after years of negotiation, we completed a bilateral 
agreement on accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) with the 
People's Republic of China (Agreement). The Agreement will dramatically 
cut import barriers currently imposed on American products and services. 
It is enforceable and will lock in and expand access to virtually all 
sectors of China's economy. The Agreement meets the high standards we 
set in all areas, from creating export opportunities for our businesses, 
farmers, and working people, to strengthening our guarantees of fair 
trade. It is clearly in our economic interest. China is concluding 
agreements with other countries to accede to the WTO. The issue is 
whether Americans get the full benefit of the strong agreement we 
negotiated. To do that, we need to enact permanent Normal Trade 
Relations (NTR) for China.
    We give up nothing with this Agreement. As China enters the WTO, the 
United States makes no changes in our current market access policies. We 
preserve our right to withdraw market access for China in the event of a 
national security emergency. We make no changes in laws controlling the 
export of sensitive technology. We amend none of our trade laws. In 
fact, our protections against unfair trade practices and potential 
import surges are stronger with the Agreement than without it.
    Our choice is clear. We must enact permanent NTR for China or risk 
losing the full benefits of the Agreement we negotiated, including broad 
market access, special import protections, and rights to enforce China's 
commitments through WTO dispute settlement. All WTO members, including 
the United States, pledge to grant one another permanent NTR to enjoy 
the full benefits in one another's markets. If the Congress were to fail 
to pass permanent NTR for China, our Asian, Latin American, Canadian, 
and European competitors would reap these benefits, but American farmers 
and other workers and our businesses might well be left behind.
    We are firmly committed to vigorous monitoring and enforcement of 
China's commitments, and will work closely with the Congress on this. We 
will maximize use of the WTO's review mechanisms, strengthen U.S. 
monitoring and enforcement capabilities, ensure regular reporting to the 
Congress on China's compliance, and enforce the strong China-specific 
import surge protections we negotiated. I have requested significant new 
funding for China trade compliance.
    We must also continue our efforts to make the WTO itself more open, 
transparent, and participatory, and to elevate consideration of labor 
and the environment in trade. We must recognize the value that the WTO 
serves today in fostering a global, rules-based system of international 
trade--one that has fostered global growth and prosperity over the past 
half century. Bringing China into that rules-based system advances the 
right kind of reform in China.
    The Agreement is in the fundamental interest of American security 
and reform in China. By integrating China more fully into the Pacific 
and global economies, it will strengthen China's stake in peace and 
stability. Within China, it will help to develop the rule of law; 
strengthen the role of market forces; and increase the contacts China's 
citizens have with each other and the outside world. While we will 
continue to have strong disagreements with China over issues ranging 
from human rights to religious tolerance to foreign policy, we believe 
that bringing

[[Page 494]]

China into the WTO pushes China in the right direction in all of these 
areas.
    I, therefore, with this letter transmit to the Congress legislation 
authorizing the President to terminate application of Title IV of the 
Trade Act of 1974 to the People's Republic of China and extend permanent 
Normal Trade Relations treatment to products from China. The legislation 
specifies that the President's determination becomes effective only when 
China becomes a member of the WTO, and only after a certification that 
the terms and conditions of China's accession to the WTO are at least 
equivalent to those agreed to between the United States and China in our 
November 15, 1999, Agreement. I urge that the Congress consider this 
legislation as soon as possible.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
March 8, 2000.