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Copyright 2005 The Financial Times Limited
Financial Times (London, England)
July 15, 2005 Friday
London Edition 3
SECTION: THE AMERICAS; Pg. 8
LENGTH: 483 words
HEADLINE: Push for China bill ahead of Cafta vote
BYLINE: By EDWARD ALDEN
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:
The US House of Rep-resentatives will vote as early as next week on a package of measures to toughen US trade enforcement against China, a move aimed at rounding up desperately needed support for a bilateral trade deal with central America.
Bill Thomas, the powerful Republican chairman of the House ways and means committee, yesterday said he would support legislation to allow US companies to seek import duties if they believe their Chinese competitors are unfairly subsidised by Beijing.
In addition, the bill would step up US monitoring of China's compliance with its trade commitments in areas such as intellectual property rights and agriculture, and would tighten reporting requirements on currency manipulation.
The move was a sign of the obstacles the US administration and the Republican leadership face in pushing the Central American Free Trade Agreement through Congress. While Cafta was narrowly approved by the Senate last month, House Democrats are virtually united in their opposition, forcing the administration to seek support from Republicans for whom the trade deficit with China is a central concern.
Mr Thomas said he would urge the Republican leadership to hold a vote on the China bill before the final vote on Cafta, which is expected by the end of this month.
The administration has already slapped quotas on many categories of Chinese clothing imports, in part to win support for Cafta from undecided Republicans in southern states where the textile industry remains influential.
Phil English, a Republican Cafta opponent with close ties to the steel industry, said the proposed China legislation would "form the basis for us to move forward on a bipartisan basis on Cafta and other trade issues".
He said he would now support Cafta, and believed five or six other members of Congress would be persuaded as well.
But yesterday's action did little to appease Democrats.
"To get one vote on the (ways and means) committee for Cafta, the Republicans are willing to support a new China bill - much of which has been advocated by Democrats for years without any response," said Charles Rangel, the top Democrat on the committee. "They talk about sugar, textiles, and now China, but the Republican leadership cannot get the votes to pass Cafta on its own merits."
China is currently treated as a "non-market economy" by the US, with special rules for anti-dumping cases because it is assumed that Beijing is heavily involved in most sectors of the economy. It is not clear how the US would attempt to calculate the level of government subsidies to individual companies in China.
Mr Thomas had previously opposed allowing subsidy cases against China, and he acknowledged that the administration "would not prefer something in this area".
While the bill would not directly affect the takeover bid by Cnooc, the Chinese oil company, for Unocal, it is likely to get caught up in the same debate.
LOAD-DATE: July 14, 2005
Financial Times (London, England)
July 15, 2005 Friday
London Edition 3
SECTION: THE AMERICAS; Pg. 8
LENGTH: 483 words
HEADLINE: Push for China bill ahead of Cafta vote
BYLINE: By EDWARD ALDEN
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:
The US House of Rep-resentatives will vote as early as next week on a package of measures to toughen US trade enforcement against China, a move aimed at rounding up desperately needed support for a bilateral trade deal with central America.
Bill Thomas, the powerful Republican chairman of the House ways and means committee, yesterday said he would support legislation to allow US companies to seek import duties if they believe their Chinese competitors are unfairly subsidised by Beijing.
In addition, the bill would step up US monitoring of China's compliance with its trade commitments in areas such as intellectual property rights and agriculture, and would tighten reporting requirements on currency manipulation.
The move was a sign of the obstacles the US administration and the Republican leadership face in pushing the Central American Free Trade Agreement through Congress. While Cafta was narrowly approved by the Senate last month, House Democrats are virtually united in their opposition, forcing the administration to seek support from Republicans for whom the trade deficit with China is a central concern.
Mr Thomas said he would urge the Republican leadership to hold a vote on the China bill before the final vote on Cafta, which is expected by the end of this month.
The administration has already slapped quotas on many categories of Chinese clothing imports, in part to win support for Cafta from undecided Republicans in southern states where the textile industry remains influential.
Phil English, a Republican Cafta opponent with close ties to the steel industry, said the proposed China legislation would "form the basis for us to move forward on a bipartisan basis on Cafta and other trade issues".
He said he would now support Cafta, and believed five or six other members of Congress would be persuaded as well.
But yesterday's action did little to appease Democrats.
"To get one vote on the (ways and means) committee for Cafta, the Republicans are willing to support a new China bill - much of which has been advocated by Democrats for years without any response," said Charles Rangel, the top Democrat on the committee. "They talk about sugar, textiles, and now China, but the Republican leadership cannot get the votes to pass Cafta on its own merits."
China is currently treated as a "non-market economy" by the US, with special rules for anti-dumping cases because it is assumed that Beijing is heavily involved in most sectors of the economy. It is not clear how the US would attempt to calculate the level of government subsidies to individual companies in China.
Mr Thomas had previously opposed allowing subsidy cases against China, and he acknowledged that the administration "would not prefer something in this area".
While the bill would not directly affect the takeover bid by Cnooc, the Chinese oil company, for Unocal, it is likely to get caught up in the same debate.
LOAD-DATE: July 14, 2005
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