March 8, 2000
TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_______________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release 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 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.
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