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Clinton unveils China trade bill, presses for vote

WASHINGTON: The White House will send legislation to Congress on Wednesday that would grant China permanent trading privileges in the U.S. market, setting the stage for the biggest trade battle since the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement.

President Bill Clinton will make the announcement in a speech at Johns Hopkins University and urge Congress to approve the market-opening agreement as soon as possible. The White House wants the legislation passed by June, fearing further delay could bog it down in election politics.

Republican and Democratic leaders in the Senate said they expected it to pass. House Republican Majority Leader Dick Armey said it should clear the House as well, despite stiff opposition from labour unions and their Democratic allies.

The landmark trade agreement calls for China to open a wide range of markets, from agriculture to telecommunications.

The deal, worked out in 1999, is a crucial piece of China's application to join the World Trade Organisation, though Beijing must still wrap up talks with the European Union and other WTO members to enter the Geneva-based body, which sets global trading rules.

In exchange for market-opening by China, Clinton says the Republican-led Congress must grant the country permanent normal trade relations (NTR) -- a status Beijing now gets only after an annual congressional review.

Permanent NTR would guarantee Chinese goods the same low-tariff access to U.S. markets as products from nearly every other nation.

The White House is pressing for a swift vote on permanent NTR in the Senate, hoping to score an early victory that would put pressure on a bitterly divided House of Representatives.

"The president has done a lot and will continue to do a lot...There really is no more important vote or higher priority for the next few months in Congress," White House spokesman Joe Lockhart told reporters.

Clinton's allies -- a coalition led by the Business Roundtable and the Chamber of Commerce -- earmarked more than $12 million to round up free-trade votes on Capitol Hill, in their biggest lobbying campaign since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was passed in 1993. NAFTA, which lowered trade barriers between the United States, Mexico and Canada, was approved after a bitter congressional fight.

Senate leaders said the Finance Committee will hold the first vote on the China pact and passage was virtually assured. Fifteen senators on the 20-member committee told Reuters in a survey they will support permanent NTR for Beijing.

In the 100-member Senate, the vote may be closer, but Republican Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi and Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said they expected at least 60 senators to support the White House, enough to override a filibuster.

It remained to be seen whether the agreement would garner a 218-vote majority in the 435-member House, though Republican leaders and administration officials were optimistic.

To boost congressional support for a swift vote, Clinton was expected to include a provision in the bill assuring lawmakers that U.S. business would benefit from Chinese market-opening commitments negotiated by the European Union and others.

Armey said he expected the House to approve permanent NTR in June, later than the administration had hoped, and urged Clinton to lobby Democrats. "It's going to be tough to get the votes," the Texas Republican conceded.

According to House Democratic Whip David Bonior of Michigan, two out of three Democrats will oppose the pact. Labour unions, traditionally allied with Clinton's Democratic Party, have singled out the trade agreement for attack, and have put House Democrats on notice that they will pay at the polls in the November election if they support it.-Reuters