Mike Levin: “Mr. Chairman, trade issues are never easy. They become more difficult as globalization has become global. It now…”

“Mr. Chairman, trade issues are never easy. They become more difficult as globalization has become global. It now includes the largest nation in the world. It is destined, according to World Bank estimates, to have the second largest national economy in the world in 20 years. So China's integration into the world trading system inevitably presents both opportunities and challenges both. What we have to do is to take advantage of the benefits in the agreement that we negotiated with China and also actively address the problems in our relationship. Briefly, the benefits, and there will be more discussion of this, the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. Archer), chairman of the committee, has laid out some of them. Lower tariffs, dramatically lower tariffs over time for both agricultural and industrial products. Service, a dramatic breakthrough for our service industries. Telecommunications, China is exploding in terms of telecommunications. So vital barriers that now exist, for example, local content requirements, they are out the window under this agreement. Restrictions on distribution of our products made in the United States, they are gone over time under this agreement. Technology transfers that were required by China up to this point would no longer be available to the Chinese. The point is clear: if we do not grant PNTR to China, it is going into the WTO in any event.”