Congress Needs To Act In The Common Defense Of Our Economy

The following cites are from the Agence France-Presse article titled “Senators introduce legislation to repeal China's trading status “.

Legislation was introduced in the US Senate to repeal permanent normal trade relations status for China, citing Beijing's alleged unfair trade practices and a rocketing US trade deficit.

Trade practices are part of the common defense of the United States and when China’s Practice are unfair then we suffer. Our government has the duty to do what they believe is best for our interests.

They cited practices including piracy, currency manipulation, violation of its own labor laws, and barriers to prevent US products from entering the Chinese market.

"There's nothing normal or fair about any of these methods," Dorgan, the Democratic senator from North Dakota, told a news conference with Graham, a South Carolina legislator from President George W. Bush's Republican Party.

"This is drastic in the sense of politics but I think it's necessary in the sense of business," Graham said, adding that PNTR status should only be granted to China on an annual basis subject to progress on reforms.

Cautioning the lawmakers about their new action, US Trade Representative Rob Portman said any decision to withdraw the PNTR from China would be counterproductive.

All side of the issue do have to be considered but doing nothing is seldom the answer to resolving diplomatic issues between countries.

Portman pointed out that China was a vital market for the United States.

It is the biggest US export market in terms of growth, averaging around 15 to 20 percent over the last two years, among large economies, he said.

"It's been a great export market for us, and part of that is because they're now in the WTO, we're able to not only seek lower tariffs ... (and) we should not lose sight of the fact that in the export side it's created a lot of jobs in the US," he explained.

It sounds like there are benefits to the situation as it know exist but sometimes you make sacrifices now in order to obtain greater benefits later. Then there are other times you have to compromise. I wonder if it is American citizens or illegal aliens filling those jobs that are created.

He referred to the increasingly large savings in China compared to those in the United States and the "extremely high" US consumption rate relative to China.

The US deficit is expected to pass the key 200-billion-dollar mark when 2005 figures are released Friday, roughly 40 billion dollars more than the previous year, Dorgan and Graham said Thursday.

The deficit has me very concerned because it puts us into hock to countries such as China. China is able to loan us the money because they cheat us. Some of the deficit exist because China cheats us. I would say the situation needs to definitely change and if no one proposes a better ideal then I support withdrawing China’s status.