John Spratt: “I oppose most-favored-nation status for China. It is not in the best interests of China, not its people nor its despotic…”

“I oppose most-favored-nation status for China. It is not in the best interests of China, not its people nor its despotic rulers, not in the best interests of the United States. I oppose MFN for China for three reasons. First, China has no sense of trade reciprocity. It accounts for the second largest share of the U.S. trade deficit, the largest export of textiles and apparel to the United States. But what did China do with its $34 billion surplus last year? They used our $34 billion of hard currency to buy capital and consumer goods from Europe and Japan and the rest of Asia, not from the United States. No country enjoys more open access to our textile and clothing markets than Japan, than China, and last year they sold us $9 billion in clothing and fabrics. Despite this liberal access to our markets, they egregiously cheated. They mislabeled and transshipped up to $44 billion in goods through other countries in order to avoid our quotas. By voting against MFN, we are telling China that we do not favor countries that flout the rules of fair trade with us. Second, China denies its people the human rights which we regard as fundamental to a civilized society. We have a moral role here, to say to China: You have to pay a price for treating your people so oppressively. Third, China brazenly sells nuclear and missile technology to non-nuclear nations. They know they are in violation of the law.…”