China Hasn’t Met its Trade Commitments with the U.S. PNTR Status Should be on the Table.

“Adherence can be measured,” argue U.S.-China Economic and Security Review commissioners.

Another call has been made for the U.S. government to reconsider the trade status that grants Chinese imports a lower tariff rate. They’re starting to stack up.

This was once the territory of trade hawks, but no more. After two decades of evidence that Beijing hasn’t met the terms it agreed to in order to secure lower tariff barriers, senators call granting China permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) a mistake on Sunday morning talk shows. Presidential candidates vow to revisit it. The special committee on China set up in the U.S. House of Representatives has heard more than one suggestion – including from us at the Alliance for American Manufacturing – that China’s PNTR should be reconsidered.

What’s more, there are proposals in Congress to outright repeal it. And skepticism in Congress toward Chinese trade is considered so dire that the establishment is sitting up in its chair and paying attention.

This week, two members of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), which in its last report to Congress made a PNTR reassessment its top recommendation, say Capitol Hill should base any decision on the original agreement the two countries signed in 1999. “Trade debates too often focus on questions of fairness, but that is an elusive concept,” argue Robin Cleveland and Michael Wessel. “China made commitments and its adherence can be measured.”

Cleveland and Wessel write:

“The commission’s recommendation, although short, was carefully crafted yet allows room for multiple options. As was true decades ago, before PNTR was granted, Congress could require an annual presidential waiver or certification of China’s compliance with the existing agreement; it could link suspension to immediate action by the CCP to negotiate new commitments that must include consequences for failure to comply. Congress could also simply suspend PNTR status in its entirety for a specific period — or indefinitely.”

Adherence can be measured, and there is lots of space for Congress to act on PNTR. Read the whole opinion here.