Tag: GOP

FIRST ON FOX: The movement to eliminate the free trade perks China enjoys in the U.S. is gaining steam under Republican control of the government. 

GOP leaders in the House and Senate are once again introducing legislation that would end China’s most favored nation status by repealing Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR).

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., reintroduced the Restoring Trade Fairness Act in the Senate, with Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., as a cosponsor. The bill has bipartisan support in the House – Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Moch., China Competition Committee chair, introduced it along with Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y.

The measure would create a minimum 35% tariff on non-strategic goods and a 100% tariff on strategic goods, phased in over five years. 

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It would end “de minimis treatment” for China, or the value threshold below which imports are not subject to customs duties. The revenue generated, according to the bill, would go toward farmers and manufacturers injured by potential Chinese retaliation and the purchase of key munitions important to a potential Pacific conflict.

The bill follows a recent Trump executive order that directs the secretary of Commerce and the U.S. Trade representative to assess proposals regarding PNTR. 

Congress voted to grant China PNTR in 2000 under a directive from then-President Bill Clinton, which also allowed it to join the World Trade Organization (WTO). 

The designation fundamentally changed China-U.S. trade relations. U.S. consumers gained access to low-priced Chinese imports, and between 2001 and 2021, the value of goods imported from China quadrupled to $500 billion.

The U.S. share of global manufacturing production dropped from 25% in 1997 to 17% in 2019. 

Nations with PNTR enjoy an average tariff rate of around 3%. Additional tariffs on Chinese goods by sector that kicked off under the first Trump administration drive that figure higher for the CCP. 

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Critics of PNTR say it allowed companies to outsource their manufacturing to China, and that renewed tensions with Beijing could lead to supply chain issues. 

Proponents of PNTR say that removing that status would cause inflation, allowing further tariffs on billions’ worth of Chinese goods. 

“For too long, permanent normal trade relations with China have undermined our manufacturing base, shifted American jobs abroad, and allowed the CCP to exploit our markets while betraying the promise of fair competition,” Moolenaar said in a statement.” 

“China’s Permanent Normal Trade Relations status has enriched the Chinese Communist Party while costing the United States millions of jobs,” said Cotton. “This comprehensive repeal of China’s PNTR status and reform of the U.S.-China trade relationship will protect American workers, enhance our national security, and end the Chinese Communists’ leverage over our economy.”

On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump suggested tariffs as high as 60% on Chinese goods. However, this week, after taking office, he said he intended to start off with a 10% tariff on Chinese products on Feb. 1. 

Ending China’s most favored nation status was a pipe dream under the previous administration, when Democrats controlled the Senate and White House. 

However, with Republican control of the executive branch and both chambers of Congress, the legislation has gained momentum. 

House Republicans who spoke with Fox News Digital said they wanted to see the legislation get passed this Congress. 

“China needs to be isolated,” said Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis. “That takes tariffs. It takes tariffs without any permanent normal trade relations. They never should have been allowed into the WTO – the Democrats gave them favored nation status.”

“That started the downward spiral out of our military industrial complex crashing in the ground,” he went on. “We can’t produce enough weapons right now because all the manufacturing – it’s not just that we’re not buying bombs from China, that there’s component parts that have to go into all these weapons systems that left the country. That’s a national security issue.”

“There’s no question in my mind that I would like to see an end to normal trade relations,” said freshman Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-N.C. “China is not our friend. They are our adversary. I would go so far as to say they are our enemy.”

“I would never have voted for a permanent trade authority for China or for Russia,” said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.

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“You have to meet certain requirements to be a most favored nation,” he went on. “Previous presidents made the mistake of saying that we should give them the status because they were going to stop doing the wrong thing. No, they need to do the right thing. And then we’re certainly happy to have them back in.”