May 5, 2000

Time’s getting short. With a vote granting permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) to China scheduled the week of May 21, agricultural producers have a unique opportunity to take their future in their hands.

At stake is access to the world’s biggest market, a market sorely needed in these uncertain times of drought/potential drought and low commodity prices.

China will probably soon gain membership to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Membership means China will agree to play by the accepted rules of fair trade. Unless Congress grants PNTR to the world’s most populous nation, the Chinese will be unwilling to enter into long-term trade deals with Americans. Our competitors will eagerly enter trade agreements with the Chinese.

U.S. farmers would be shut out—another market lost.

TFB Legislative Director Steve Pringle said China recently made several unilateral, trade concessions in U.S./China WTO negotiations.

In those negotiations, China agreed to cut agricultural tariffs on average from 22 percent to 17.5 percent. On U.S. priority agricultural production, tariffs would drop from an average of 31 percent to 14 percent on products such as beef, poultry, pork, cheese and oranges. Without PNTR approval, however, these negotiations will be meaningless.

"Approval of China PNTR would not increase China’s ability to export products to the U.S. China’s access to U.S. markets stays the same with our without PNTR approval," Pringle says. "Agricultural exports to China amounted to almost $2 billion in 1999. Passage of PNTR would provide the opportunity to increase agricultural exports to China to $5 billion by 2005."

From an agricultural perspective, Rep. Charlie Stenholm, ranking minority member of the House Agriculture Committee, said it’s a no-brainer. "There is nothing we give up and everything we potentially gain by passing permanent normal trade relations with China," he said.

Opponents to the trade deal are many. They say PNTR will be bad for American workers as cheaper Chinese goods lure American buyers. They worry that U.S. businesses will relocate to China for cheaper labor.

They’re wrong. More U.S. exports mean more U.S. jobs. And with China’s burgeoning middle class, China could become a vital U.S. market for years to come.

Other concerns center on religious freedom, workers’ rights, and environmental concerns. Sen. Phil Gramm has an answer to those: "If you really care about religious freedom, do you think people in China are going to have more religious freedom if they continue to develop an international economy through world trade, or if they close up? And if you’re concerned about workers’ rights, do you think workers have more rights when you have trade than when you don’t? And, the environment. Will China do a better job of protecting its environment if it trades more and is richer than if it is poorer? I think the answer to all those things is yes."

Gramm told TFB leaders on the recent National Affairs Award Trip that PNTR will pass the Senate. He urged them to focus their efforts on the House.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest agreed. Organized labor, he said, is going to "take this one to the wall," noting they will put "hundreds of phone calls a day" to congressional offices and "put hundreds of thousands of dollars" into political campaigns against congressmen who support PNTR.

Farm Bureau can play a lead role in PNTR passage, Combest claimed. All it takes is a little motivation. He urged Farm Bureau members to contact their congressmen by phone, letter or e-mail.

"We will never have this good of chance again," Combest said. "Everybody says, ‘We know what they gave up. What do we give up?’ Nothing. We didn’t give up anything. It’s a win-win-win-win deal for us."