-Caveat Lector-
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: US Firms Tell Congress to Back China in WTO "Or Else"
Date: Thu, 9 Dec 1999 00:01:24 -0600 (CST)
From: Michael Eisenscher <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Organization: PACH
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
December 8, 1999
US Firms Tell Congress to Back China-WTO
Filed at 4:17 p.m. ET
By Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Corporate America warned lawmakers on Wednesday
against blocking a landmark trade agreement with China, saying their vote
could prompt a backlash from business in the November 2000 congressional
election.
Less than a week after the collapse of global trade talks in Seattle, U.S.
Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue said his group would step up a
lobbying campaign to convince the Republican-controlled Congress to support
the trade pact, which would open a wide range of Chinese markets and clear
the way for Beijing to join the World Trade Organization (WTO).
``If you're absent on this China vote, it's going to get very expensive
politically,'' said Donohue, who heads the nation's largest business group.
``You make this vote at your own peril.''
ELECTION YEAR BATTLE
The White House has already called meetings with key lawmakers as it gears
up for a bruising election-year fight over the deal, which requires
Congress to grant Beijing favorable access to U.S. markets, so-called
permanent normal trade relations (NTR) status.
``It will be a hell of a fight to get from here to there. ... We're going
to have to put a lot of time, energy, effort and money into this,'' Donohue
told reporters, but added: ``This is going to happen.''
Analysts said the collapse of WTO talks in Seattle has strengthened the
hand of free trade critics, including labor groups worried that low-priced
Chinese-made goods would flood the U.S. market under the trade agreement,
costing American workers their jobs.
Stephen Yokich, president of the United Auto Workers union, has sent a
letter to President Clinton, vowing to ``mobilize our members and the
general public'' against a trade accord that he said was ``contrary to the
interest of working families.''
John Sweeney, president of the 13-million member AFL-CIO, has promised to
``wage a full and vigorous campaign'' against the trade deal. ``We'll spend
as much money as necessary,'' he said.
At a congressional hearing on Wednesday, China's critics lashed out at the
trade deal.
Rep. Christopher Smith, a New Jersey Republican, said China must improve
its human rights record.
``The tongues of our people are sore from licking the boots of these
dictators. It's embarrassing,'' said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California
Republican, another opponent.
Congress must vote to grant Beijing permanent NTR status as part of the
trade deal that would open China's vast market potential to U.S.
businesses. Permanent NTR would guarantee China low-tariff access to U.S.
markets.
Clinton is counting on the business community to lead the fight, even
though business leaders have long been skeptical of his commitment to free
trade and his push to bring labor and environmental issues into negotiations.
Clinton's relations with business frayed last week when he suggested that
trade sanctions might eventually be used against developing countries that
ignored labor standards. The comment sparked a backlash from developing
nations, precipitating the collapse of WTO negotiations in Seattle.
CLINTON BLAMED
Some business leaders and WTO diplomats have accused Clinton of bowing to
pressure from labor unions and other domestic interests to help his chosen
successor, Vice President Al Gore, at the polls in 2000. In so doing, they
said, Clinton undermined U.S. leadership at the WTO.
An exasperated Donohue lashed out at Clinton for his remarks on sanctions,
saying it scuttled a more narrowly tailored proposal that would have set up
a WTO working group on worker issues. ``That was the end of that deal ...
done, gone, finished, and you couldn't get a vote on that if hell froze
over,'' he said.
Despite the Seattle debacle, Donohue said he was confident Congress would
approve the China deal and said his group would be aggressive in lobbying
for it.
``This is very important to this country, very important to our national
security, our national well-being and to our trading position in the world,
and people that are absent on that deal may find November 2000 more
cumbersome than they had hoped,'' he said.
On Tuesday, White House chief of staff John Podesta and other aides met at
the White House with Democratic Rep. Norman Dicks of Washington and Arizona
Republican Rep. Jim Kolbe and other members on how best to gather support
for approving permanent normal trade relations with China.
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