by Philip Lenczycki
The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party released a report Tuesday proposing the U.S. revoke China’s permanent normal trade status.
The new report supports three overarching policy objectives: resetting the terms of U.S.-China economic engagement, stemming the flow of U.S. capital and technology to China’s military and building U.S. economic might with allies. Toward that end, the report outlines approximately 150 policy recommendations including new tariffs, disclosure requirements for American companies with ties to China, and strengthening U.S. research security.
“Since its accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001, the CCP has pursued a multi-decade campaign of economic aggression against the United States and its allies in the name of strategically decoupling the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from the global economy, making the PRC less dependent on the United States in critical sectors, while making the United States more dependent on the PRC,” the report states. “In response, the United States must now chart a new path that puts its national security, economic security, and values at the core of the U.S.-PRC relationship.”
The report’s most significant policy recommendation calls for the U.S. to revoke China’s permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status.
“Countries granted PNTR status, once called ‘most favored nation’ status, receive preferential trade treatment such as lower tariffs and fewer barriers such as import quotas,” according to the Heritage Foundation.
In December 2001, China became a World Trade Organization (WTO) member and shortly thereafter the U.S. granted it PNTR status.
“WTO Members understood that China intended to dismantle existing state-led, mercantilist policies and practices, and they expected China to continue on its then-existing path of economic reform and successfully complete a transformation to a market-oriented economy and trade regime,” Tuesday’s report states, citing a 2020 United States Trade Representative report on China’s WTO compliance.
“More than 20 years later, the PRC has failed to live up to these commitments and to the foundational principles of the WTO — open, market-oriented, non-discriminatory treatment.”
Consequently, the report recommends the U.S. “move the PRC to a new tariff column that restores U.S. economic leverage to ensure the PRC abides by its trade commitments.”
The new report also calls for increased transparency for U.S. investments into China, and would require annual disclosure requirements for publicly traded U.S. companies regarding their “material ties to the CCP, supply chain, profit from the PRC and the company’s preparation for and ability to withstand the sudden loss of market access that could result from a conflict in the region.”
Likewise, in order to combat the PRC’s rampant theft of U.S. intellectual property, which is fueling the modernization of China’s military, the report proposes “requiring all federal research funding applicants to disclose details about past, present and pending relations and interest with foreign governments, foreign government controlled entities, or entities located in foreign adversary countries, in the past five years for themselves and any key member of their team who will be involved in fundamental research supported by the grant.”
– – –
Philip Lenczycki is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
