Since relations between the U.S. and China were normalized, Congress has had the opportunity, every year, whether or not to grant China the same trading status we give to other “friendly” nations.  Although the China trade deal has won out every year, at least we had an annual review in place.  If bill this passes, I am sure the dictators in Beijing will take our concerns even less seriously than they have in the past.

It is well known that China has a terrible record on human and worker rights, environmental protection, fair trade and weapons proliferation.  China has repeatedly violated almost all of their prior agreements. The United States consumes 40 percent of China’s exports, so common sense dictates that we can influence China’s actions by threatening to cut off market access.  By essentially granting China permanent guaranteed access to our markets we would surrender our only political and economic leverage.

Big business claims that granting China PNTR will allow for more American products to be sold to the 1.2 billion consumers in China.  But even if China opens their doors to our products, which I don’t believe they intend on doing, how many cars or designer jeans will American workers sell to Chinese workers making 13 cents per hour.  

I urge my colleagues to vote against this “Blank Check for China” and yield back the balance of my time.