05 April 2000
Transcript: Clinton Praises House Speaker for Scheduling China Vote
(President lauds House Speaker for week of May 22 vote) (540) President Clinton praised House Speaker Representative Dennis Hastert (Republican of Illinois) for scheduling a vote on granting permanent Normal Trade Relations (NTR) status to China for the week of May 22. "This is very good news," Clinton said April 5 at the White House. The trade agreement negotiated between the United States and China on that country's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Clinton said, "slashes tariffs by about half on everything from automobiles to agriculture, to telecommunications, and it also slashes those tariffs which protect the state-run industries in China which, in large measure, have been the instrument of single-party control there." For American businesses to reap the benefits of the agreement, both the Senate and the House of Representatives must vote to grant permanent NTR status to China, which would be accomplished by voting to end the application of Title IV of the Trade Act of 1974 to China. "I want to thank the Speaker and the leadership of the House for doing this," Clinton said. "I will do what I can to pass it, he added, "I think it's not only in our economic interest, this is a profoundly important national security interest for the United States." Following are excerpts from a White House transcript of the President's remarks: (begin transcript) THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary April 5, 2000 Excerpted from Remarks by the President and the Participants in the First Session of the Economic Summit The East Room THE PRESIDENT: Let me say before we leave, since a couple of you mentioned the global aspect of this, I just got a note that I think is very good news. The Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, announced this morning that he scheduled a vote on permanent normal trading relations with China, which would open their markets to our goods and services, for the week of May the 22nd, and this is very good news. This agreement slashes tariffs by about half on everything from automobiles to agriculture, to telecommunications, and it also slashes those tariffs which protect the state-run industries in China which, in large measure, have been the instrument of single-party control there. So I think it will lead to an opening of the society and a rise in freedom and personal choice. We're talking about the new economy. Two years ago, there were 2 million Internet users in China; last year, there were 9 million. I think this year there will be somewhere between 20 million and 25 million. So I think that this is very, very important. And I want to thank the Speaker and the leadership of the House for doing this. And I assure you, I will do what I can to pass it. I think it's not only in our economic interest, this is a profoundly important national security interest for the United States. So we end the panel on a piece of good news. (end transcript) (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: usinfo.state.gov)
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