Rep. Corrine Brown: “Has the Chinese Government earned our trust? No. China has violated the term of four previous agreements we signed with…”

“Has the Chinese Government earned our trust? No. China has violated the term of four previous agreements we signed with them. Has the WTO earned our trust? No. The WTO repeatedly rules in favor of the multinational companies, and ignores the workers, their human rights and the environment. Look at the banana issue. When the WTO ruled in favor of one company, Chiquita International; they ignored all Caribbean nations whose main exports are bananas. Now thousands of farmers are without work. We cannot trust the WTO to look out for the people. We cannot trust China to look out for the people. Who can we trust? I urge my colleagues to consider their responsibility and vote 'no' on this bill. I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 4444. I absolutely do not believe that it is in our country's best interest to grant Permanent Normal Trade Relations to China. Taking away our ability to impose unilateral trade sanctions against a country like China is simply not acceptable.”