The Senate should be very careful when it considers granting permanent trade status to China. The permanent trade preference bill passed the House May 24 and will now be considered by the Senate.
The word permanent sounds like there is no backing off when China continues or worsens its current negative policies. Past experience is the best predictor of future performance. Why should we expect a Chinese turnaround? Haven't they broken every trade agreement with the U.S. since 1992 including several GATT agreements?
They don't tell the truth. How can we feel good about this bill when we have evidence that they have stolen our technological secrets and have greatly influenced elections.
Don't we lose all of our leverage once we have voted Permanent Favorite Nation status? What are we receiving in this swap? Why not a two- or three-year agreement, then monitor the results.
Does history repeat itself? Are we building China's infrastructure, technology, and war material capability as we did for Japan and the UK did for Germany prior to World War II?
Our trade imbalance with China is already at a ratio of 10 to 7. Why do we think this bill will turn that around? Are we betting on the outcome? Is there accuracy in the Commerce Department trade report predicting a loss of 872,000 jobs in 10 years?
With the heavy pressure and arm twisting by the president, high-tech firms and some other large corporations, there must be more to the urgency of this trade bill than the public understands.
Let's hope that the Senate will modify the terms of the trade agreement to a period of five years and then observe the result before making the agreement permanent. Citizens may contact Sen. Paul Coverdell at (404) 347-2202 and Sen. Max Cleland at (404) 331-4811.
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