FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Contact: (202) 225-1721
May 28, 1999
No. TR-11
Congressman Philip M. Crane (R-IL), Chairman, Subcommittee on Trade of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing on United States-China trade relations and the possible accession of China to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The hearing will take place on Tuesday, June 8, 1999, in the main Committee hearing room, 1100 Longworth House Office Building, beginning at 1:00 p.m.
Oral testimony at this hearing will be heard from both invited and public witnesses. Also, any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for consideration by the Committee or for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing.
BACKGROUND:
Article XII of the Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization states that any State or separate customs territory may accede to the WTO "on terms to be agreed between it and the WTO." In practice, any WTO applicant must negotiate terms for membership in the WTO in the form of a Protocol of Accession. Through the operation of a Working Party, the United States and other WTO members have an opportunity to review the trade regimes of applicants to ensure that they are capable of implementing WTO obligations. In parallel with the Working Party's efforts, the United States and other interested member governments conduct separate negotiations with the applicant. These bilateral negotiations are aimed at achieving specific concessions and commitments on tariff levels, agricultural market access, and trade in services.
China applied for accession to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in July 1986, and work has proceeded sporadically in the China Working Party since that time to negotiate the conditions upon which China will enter the WTO.
On April 8, 1999, Ambassador Barshefsky announced that U.S. and Chinese negotiators secured broad progress toward an expansive bilateral market access agreement, along with Chinese commitments to adopt WTO rules relating to such issues as technology transfer and offsets, subsidies, product safeguards, and State enterprises. China also agreed to an immediate end to sanitary and phytosanitary bans on the importation of United States wheat, meat, and citrus products.
Because the United States does not extend unconditional normal-trade-relations (NTR) status to China as a result of the application of the Jackson-Vanik amendment to that country, the United States must invoke the non-application clause of the WTO (Article XXXV) upon China's accession, meaning that the United States would not apply the WTO Agreements to China. Granting China unconditional NTR trade status would require amending sections 402(a) and (b) of the Trade Act of 1974, the so-called Jackson-Vanik amendment. That law sets forth criteria which must be met, or waived by the President, in order for the President to grant NTR status to non-market economies such as China. Conditional, non-discriminatory NTR trade status was first granted to the People's Republic of China, pursuant to Title IV, on February 1, 1980, and has been extended annually since that time. Extensions are granted based upon a Presidential determination that such an extension will substantially promote the freedom of emigration objectives in Title IV of the Trade Act of 1974.
Annual Presidential waiver authority under Title IV expires on July 3 of each year. The renewal procedure requires the President to submit to Congress a recommendation for a 12-month extension by no later than 30 days prior to the waiver's expiration (i.e., by not later than June 3). The waiver authority continues in effect unless disapproved by Congress. Disapproval, should it occur, would take the form of a joint resolution disapproving the President's determination to waive the Jackson-Vanik freedom of emigration requirements for China.
In announcing the hearing, Chairman Crane said: "It is troubling for those of us who support normalizing U.S. trade relations with China to observe that China's WTO negotiations-marked by enormous progress in April--are again suspended due to China's unwillingness to sit back down at the table. Premier Zhu's offer to President Clinton represents costless, unilateral trade concessions for U.S. firms and workers which are in danger of slipping through our fingers, a sad casualty of deteriorating of relations in other areas. I urge the President and the Chinese leadership to push ahead on trade talks with a clear appreciation of the commercial gains that would be associated with a sound WTO agreement, despite the formidable problems that dominate many other aspects of bilateral relations between our two countries."
FOCUS OF THE HEARING:
The focus of the hearing will be to examine the status and future of United States-China trade relations, including the yearly renewal of China's normal trade status, and the problems and opportunities associated with the entry of China into the WTO. Testimony will be received on objectives for the negotiations with China, as well as on the anticipated impact of its WTO membership on U.S. workers, industries, and other affected parties. In particular, witnesses should discuss the potential value of the recent Chinese concessions to U.S. commercial interests. Members of the Subcommittee would also welcome testimony on how progress in China's WTO negotiations are affecting the pending application of Taiwan to join the WTO and the potential impact on China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong of normalized trade relations.
DETAILS FOR SUBMISSIONS OF REQUESTS TO BE HEARD:
Requests to be heard at the hearing must be made by telephone to Traci Altman or Pete Davila at (202) 225-1721 no later than the close of business, Wednesday, June 3, 1999. The telephone request should be followed by a formal written request to A.L. Singleton, Chief of Staff, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives, 1102 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515. The staff of the Subcommittee on Trade will notify by telephone those scheduled to appear as soon as possible after the filing deadline. Any questions concerning a scheduled appearance should be directed to the Subcommittee on Trade staff at (202) 225-6649.
In view of the limited time available to hear witnesses, the Subcommittee may not be able to accommodate all requests to be heard. Those persons and organizations not scheduled for an oral appearance are encouraged to submit written statements for the record of the hearing. All persons requesting to be heard, whether they are scheduled for oral testimony or not, will be notified as soon as possible after the filing deadline.
Witnesses scheduled to present oral testimony are required to summarize briefly their written statements in no more than five minutes. THE FIVE-MINUTE RULE WILL BE STRICTLY ENFORCED. The full written statement of each witness will be included in the printed record, in accordance with House Rules.
In order to assure the most productive use of the limited amount of time available to question witnesses, all witnesses scheduled to appear before the Subcommittee are required to submit
200 copies, along with an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect 5.1 format, of their prepared statement for review by Members prior to the hearing. Testimony should arrive at the Subcommittee on Trade office, room 1104 Longworth House Office Building, no later than Friday, June 4, 1999. Failure to do so may result in the witness being denied the opportunity to testify in person.
WRITTEN STATEMENTS IN LIEU OF PERSONAL APPEARANCE:
Any person or organization wishing to submit a written statement for the printed record of the hearing should submit six (6) single-spaced copies of their statement, along with an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect 5.1 format, with their name, address, and hearing date noted on a label, by the close of business, Tuesday, June 22, 1999, to A.L. Singleton, Chief of Staff, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives, 1102 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515. If those filing written statements wish to have their statements distributed to the press and interested public at the hearing, they may deliver 200 additional copies for this purpose to the Subcommittee on Trade office, room 1104 Longworth House Office Building, by close of business the day before the hearing.
FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS:
Each statement presented for printing to the Committee by a witness, any written statement or exhibit submitted for the printed record or any written comments in response to a request for written comments must conform to the guidelines listed below. Any statement or exhibit not in compliance with these guidelines will not be printed, but will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
1. All statements and any accompanying exhibits for printing must be submitted on an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect 5.1 format, typed in single space and may not exceed a total of 10 pages including attachments. Witnesses are advised that the Committee will rely on electronic submissions for printing the official hearing record.
2. Copies of whole documents submitted as exhibit material will not be accepted for printing. Instead, exhibit material should be referenced and quoted or paraphrased. All exhibit material not meeting these specifications will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
3. A witness appearing at a public hearing, or submitting a statement for the record of a public hearing, or submitting written comments in response to a published request for comments by the Committee, must include on his statement or submission a list of all clients, persons, or organizations on whose behalf the witness appears.
4. A supplemental sheet must accompany each statement listing the name, company, address, telephone and fax numbers where the witness or the designated representative may be reached. This supplemental sheet will not be included in the printed record.
The above restrictions and limitations apply only to material being submitted for printing. Statements and exhibits or supplementary material submitted solely for distribution to the Members, the press, and the public during the course of a public hearing may be submitted in other forms.
The
Committee seeks to make its facilities accessible to persons with
disabilities. If you are in need of special accommodations, please
call 202-225-1721 or 202-226-3411 TTD/TTY in advance of the event
(four business days notice is requested). Questions with regard to
special accommodation needs in general (including availability of
Committee materials in alternative formats) may be directed to the
Committee as noted above.