China got preferential trade partner status with the US in 2001 and since then the US had to close 50,000 production units and has lost more than four million jobs in the sector, the Singapore Post reported, adding that in 2023, the US is preparing to revoke the status to repair the damage done.
US Republican Senators Tom Cotton, Ted Budd, Rick Scott, and JD Vance introduced the China Trade Relations Act on January 26 this year to end China’s Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status, the report said.
“Communist China has enjoyed permanent MNF status for two decades, exacerbating the loss of American manufacturing jobs. China never deserved this privilege in the first place, and China certainly doesn’t deserve it today. Time to protect American jobs and hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for its forced labour camps and gross human rights violations,” Cotton was quoted as saying in The Singapore Post report.
In 2000, under US President Bill Clinton, China obtained the ‘Permanent Normal Trade Relations’ status of the US. In 2001, with the support of the Bush administration, China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The report quoted Florida Senator Scott as saying, “The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cares about one thing — destroying the United States. There is no reason for the United States to use preferential treatment and ‘most-favoured-nation treatment’ to help the trade operations of the Communist Party government. Now is the time to put the interests of the United States (instead of the CCP) in the first place and overturn this outdated law.”
Republican Senator Vance said that Ohio had lost more than 1,30,000 jobs since the approval of MNF status by US congress which he called a ‘catastrophic mistake’.
Senator Budd of North Carolina said, “The Chinese Communist Party is not a friend of the United States, nor is it a force for good in the world. From human rights violations to the theft of American jobs and intellectual property, the Chinese Communist Party must be held accountable. One of the most effective ways to counter the Chinese Communist Party is to promulgate the Cotton Senate Congressman’s Bill to terminate China’s permanent normal trade relations status.”