Jan. 30, 2023, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement reacting to the bill introduced to Strip China’s Permanent Trade status:
“China has been engaged in a multi-front war on the United States for more than a decade that has been largely financed through the most favored nation status, also known as Permanent Normal Trade Relations PNTR) trade classification, passed by Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in 1998. This mistake had the effect of transferring trillions of dollars in wealth and much of the United States manufacturing sector to China leaving America vulnerable. The hope and promise were that this interdependency between our two economies would forge an alliance between our nations. Instead, it has led to a hollowing out of our national industrial base and China’s ascendancy on the world stage.
“Americans for Limited Government applauds Senators Tom Cotton, Rick Scott, Ted Budd and J.D. Vance for taking the courageous step to introduce legislation to end PNTR.
“It can be predicted that some of the multi-national manufacturing sector who have invested heavily in factories in China while leaving American workers behind will object. They would be wrong. It is akin to committing national suicide to continue encouraging imports from China, a country whose biggest export to the United States over the past few years has been the COVID-19 virus. China has become a disastrously bad business partner as government manufacturing shutdowns have wreaked havoc on the world’s economy. This is not even to mention that China has used this increased engagement to steal hundreds of billions of dollars in intellectual property, is the largest polluter in the world and have engaged in human rights abuses ranging from extreme religious persecution, using forced and child labor, and engaging in forced organ transplants using political and religious prisoners as unwilling organ donors.
“China was given a twenty-five-year chance to become a reliable, morally sustainable partner and they have abused their favorable trade status. Congress has no choice but to revoke the communist government’s favored access to the U.S. economy. It is time for Congress to pass the China Trade Relations Act.”
For media availability contact Americans for Limited Government at media@limitgov.org.
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