US senators act to repeal China PNTR status (Agencies/chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2006-02-10 10:44
Two U.S. senators have proposed legislation to repeal permanent normal trade
relations (PNTR) status for China, alleging an enlarging U.S. trade deficit
with China is all the latter’s faults.
The US Congress granted China the PNTR status in 2000, which paved the way
for China to enter the World Trade Organization (WTO) and opened the flood-gate
for US businesses to invest in the world’s potentially biggest market.
Speaking in front
of a placard showing the logo for the Beijing Olympics, Senator Byron
Dorgan (D-ND) announces legislation to rescind permanent normal trade
relations with China during a press conference in the Capitol in
Washington, February 9, 2006. [Reuters] |
But senators Byron Dorgan and Lindsey Graham, co-authors of legislative
measure, said the status should be rescinded in retaliation for China's unfair
trade practices which they said were responsible for the huge US trade deficit,
which may surpass 200 billion dollars in 2005.
They alleged Chinese practices including currency manipulation, piracy,
violation of labor rules, and barriers to prevent US products from entering the
Chinese market, the AFP reported.
However, international trade pundits have cautioned politicians must not be
fooled by the custom statistics. They said that products with the tag "Made in
China" are actually "Made by Someone Else" - by multinational companies from
Japan, South Korea, the United States and Europe, that are using China as the
final assembly station in their vast global production networks.
Analysts say this evolving global supply chain - which often tags goods at
their final assembly stop - is increasingly out of step with global trade
figures, which serve to inflate China into a bigger trade threat than it may
actually be, the New York Times reported on Thursday.
|