WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] A vote for Bush or Gore is a vote to continue Clinton policies! A vote for Buchanan is a vote to continue America! Therefore a vote for Gore or Bush is a wasted vote for America! Don't waste your vote! Vote for Patrick Buchanan! Thursday, May 25 8:17 AM SGT US business jubilant over China trade deal, critics see sell-out WASHINGTON, May 24 (AFP) - The US business community, foreseeing huge profits from the world's biggest market, was jubilant Wednesday following a congressional vote to grant permanent trade privileges to China. But critics of the measure, notably organized labor and human rights advocates, denounced it as a "sellout" to corporate greed, and warned it would lead to lost jobs in the United States and more repression in China. After weeks of furious lobbying by both supporters and opponents of the legislation, the House of Representatives voted 237-197 to replace the 20-year-old annual review of Beijing's trade status with permanent normal trade relations (PNTR). "PNTR opens China's markets for American products, businesses and farmers, and creates jobs for workers here at home," said US Chamber of Commerce president Thomas Donohue. But United Auto Workers president Stephen Yokich dismissed the policy as "the continuation of a severely flawed approach to trade that has produced a huge and rapidly worsening trade deficit, American jobs lost and the unconscionable exploitation-for-profit of workers in China and other developing countries." China had made PNTR a condition for implementation of a sweeping market-opening accord it signed with Washington last November in exchange for US backing in its bid to join the World Trade Organization (WTO). That accord will only come into effect once China is a WTO member. With the House vote Wednesday, and expected Senate approval, China is assured of enjoying on a permanent basis the same low-tariff treatment that the United States accords just about every other country in the world. The Clinton administration, and its big-business allies, contend that an intensified commercial engagement with China will make it easier for US companies to sell their products on the Chinese market, and will also bolster the efforts of democratic reforms in the country. Thanks to the deep tariff cuts embodied in the trade accord, the United States stands to boost its exports to China by 13 billion dollars in the next five years. Critics contended that by abandoning the annual review, Washington would lose the leverage it has to pressure China to respect human rights and core labor standards. PNTR, they warned, will also eliminate jobs in the United States as companies set up shop in China to take advantage of cheap and non-unionized labor as well as an absence of environmental standards. But according to Mustafa Mohatarem, chief economist for General Motors, "GM will generate US exports worth two billion dollars over the next five years ... (in) vehicle sales in China's burgeoning market." For Phil Condit, Boeing chairman and chief executive, "PNTR will help ensure economic growth and prosperity for both the US and China." "It will also stabilize the US-China relationship in ways that will create a solid foundation for resolving other important issues." According to Motorola chairman Christopher Galvin, "more exports means more opportunity for American companies and more jobs for American workers." He called Wednesday's vote "a major step to keep America competitive in an increasingly global economy." Noting that PNTR had support in both the Democratic and Republican parties, Timothy Timken, vice president of the National Association of Manufacturers, said the vote marked "the resurgence of America's bipartisan consensus that expanding trade boosts our economy and makes life better for our workers." But Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group founded by Ralph Nader, in a statement following the House action pointed to a Harris poll showing that 79 percent of Americans opposed PNTR. "Members of Congress who supported permanent, unconditional access for goods from China will rue this day as China's human rights conduct worsens, saber-rattling against Taiwan intensifies, and US jobs are lost," said Lori Wallach of the Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. At Citizens Trade Campaign, a coalition of environmental, labor and consumer groups, the House vote was condemned as "cowardly capitulation to corporate greed." "Ordinary Americans want trade rules that promote human rights and economic security, not a skewed regime that feeds corporate hunger for cheap labor at the expense of every value Americans hold dear," it declared. Added Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club environmental lobby group: "Congress has relinquished what little leverage it had to ensure values such as environmental protection and human rights are part of our relationship with China." **COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html <A HREF="http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
