Sens. Rick Scott, Tom Cotton and Colleagues Introduce Bill to End China's Permanent Normal Trade Status

Senator Rick Scott joined Senator Tom Cotton and their colleagues in introducing the China Trade Relations Act to strip China of its Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status.

This legislation would require China to obtain Most Favored Nation (MFN) status through annual presidential approval, per the requirements of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment. The bill would also expand the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to include human rights and trade abuses as disqualifying factors for MFN status.

Senator Rick Scott said, “The CCP cares about one thing: undermining America. There is no reason why the United States should be helping a communist government’s trade operation through preferential treatment and ‘most-favored-nation’ status. That is absolutely absurd when they are working against us. It is time to put American interests first, not the CCP, and reverse this antiquated law.”

Read more from Senator Cotton’s office below.
Cotton, Colleagues Introduce Bill to End China’s Permanent Normal Trade Status

Washington, D.C. – Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), along with Sens. Rick Scott (R-Florida), Ted Budd (R-North Carolina), and J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) today introduced the China Trade Relations Act to strip China of its Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status.

This legislation would require China to obtain Most Favored Nation (MFN) status through annual presidential approval, per the requirements of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment. The bill would also expand the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to include human rights and trade abuses as disqualifying factors for MFN status.

Bill text can be found here.

“For twenty years, Communist China has held permanent most-favored-nation status, which has supercharged the loss of American manufacturing jobs. China never deserved this privilege in the first place, and China certainly does not deserve it today. It’s time to protect American jobs and hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for their forced labor camps and egregious human rights violations,” said Cotton.

“The CCP cares about one thing: undermining America. There is no reason why the United States should be helping a communist government’s trade operation through preferential treatment and ‘most-favored-nation’ status. That is absolutely absurd when they are working against us. It is time to put American interests first, not the CCP, and reverse this antiquated law,” said Scott.

“The Chinese Communist Party is not America’s friend, and it is not a force for good in the world. From human rights abuses to the theft of U.S. jobs and intellectual property, the CCP must be held accountable. One of the most effective ways to push back on the CCP is to enact Senator Cotton’s bill to end China’s Permanent Normal Trade Relations status,” said Budd.

“In the state of Ohio, we have lost over 130,000 jobs since Congress made the catastrophic mistake of granting China special trade privileges two decades ago. I have seen the devastating effects of this job loss first hand, and I know it’s past time we did something to reverse that trend. This legislation is a strong step toward defending American jobs and revitalizing our domestic manufacturing capacity,” said Vance.

Background

-The Senate voted to give China permanent most-favored-nation status on September 19, 2000. This vote paved the way for China’s accession to the World Trade Organization.

-Granting China this trade status contributed to the “China Trade Shock” that destroyed 2 million American jobs after 2001. It also led to a surge of business investment in China that made the CCP stronger and more dangerous.

The China Trade Relations Act

-The China Trade Relations Act would revoke China’s permanent most-favored-nation status and return to the pre-2001 status quo, whereby China’s MFN status must be renewed each year by presidential decision. Congress could override the president’s extension of MFN by passing a joint resolution of disapproval

-The bill also would expand the list of human-rights and trade abuses under the Jackson-Vanik Amendment that would disqualify China for MFN status, absent a presidential waiver. The abuses that would make China ineligible for MFN status, absent a presidential waiver, are as follows:

-Uses or provides for the use of slave labor;

-Operates ‘vocational training and education centers’ or other concentration camps where people are held against their will;

-Performs or otherwise orders forced abortion or sterilization procedures;

-Harvests the organs of prisoners without their consent;

-Hinders the free exercise of religion;

-Intimidates or harasses nationals of the People’s Republic of China living outside the People’s Republic of China; or

-Engages in systematic economic espionage against the United States, including theft of the intellectual property of United States persons