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Group of US Senate Democrats back China trade pact

WASHINGTON: A group of US Senate Democrats has joined free-trade Republicans in pressing for the passage of a market-opening agreement with China, bucking labour unions and other critics of the pact.

"Nothing less than the continued strength of the US economy and our leadership in the world is at stake," Sens. John Breaux of Louisiana, Bob Graham of Florida, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Charles Robb of Virginia said in a letter to Senate leaders released on Tuesday.

In another move that could bolster support for President Bill Clinton's landmark trade pact with Beijing, Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana said he would introduce legislation to help ensure that China lived up to its market-opening commitments.

Labour unions, traditionally allied with Clinton's Democratic Party, have singled out the trade pact with China for attack, demanding that China improve human rights and labour standards, and have put congressional Democrats on notice that they will pay at the polls in November if they support it.

The trade agreement, hammered out by US and Chinese negotiators last year, calls for China to open its vast markets and clear the way for Beijing to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which sets global trade rules.

In exchange for China's reduction of barriers in areas from agriculture to telecommunications, Clinton must convince the Republican-led Congress to grant Beijing favourable access to US markets so-called permanent normal trade relations status.

Permanent NTR would guarantee Chinese goods the same low-tariff access to US markets as products from nearly every other nation. China currently benefits from this status on a year-by-year basis.

Democrats in the House of Representatives are bitterly divided over whether to permanently extend China's trade privileges. Democrats in the Senate are generally more supportive, virtually ensuring passage if the legislation makes it through the House.

"It is imperative that Congress move quickly to grant permanent NTR status so that US workers and companies can take advantage of the market access provisions and other benefits," the six Democrats said in a letter to Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi and Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota.

They urged the Senate to vote on China's trade status "at the earliest possible opportunity."

To boost support for the trade agreement, Baucus aides said the senator would introduce legislation next week that would require the office of the US Trade Representative to submit annual reports to Congress on China's compliance with its WTO obligations.

Congress's General Accounting Office would also survey the top 50 US companies that sell farm goods and other products in China to assess Beijing's compliance, according to draft legislation. In addition, lawmakers could direct US trade negotiators to file a complaint against China at the WTO.

A proposal in the House would create a special commission that would review China's human rights record annually and, like the Senate plan, boost enforcement and congressional oversight.-Reuters