Republican introduces bill to revoke normal trade relations with China

The top Republican focused on U.S. competition with China introduced legislation on Thursday to end normal trade relations with Beijing.

Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich), chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, proposed revoking China’s Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR), a policy in place for more than two decades.

Lawmakers in both parties have increasingly called out Beijing's unfair trade practices, and President Biden maintained tariffs on Chinese goods that were introduced during the first Trump administration.

President-elect Trump has proposed a 60 percent tariff on all Chinese goods, and the legislation introduced by Moolenaar would further bolster Washington’s efforts to exercise more control over Chinese imports.

“Last year, our bipartisan Select Committee overwhelmingly agreed that the United States must reset its economic relationship with China. Today, building on tariffs from the Trump and Biden Administrations, the Restoring Trade Fairness Act will strip China of its permanent normal trade relations with the U.S., protect our national security, support supply chain resilience, and return manufacturing jobs to the U.S. and our allies,” Moolenaar said in a statement.

“This policy levels the playing field and helps the American people win this strategic competition with the CCP [Chinese Communist Party].”

A companion bill was earlier introduced in the Senate by Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who was recently announced as Trump’s nominee for secretary of State.

The legislation would end China’s PNTR and would not allow for an annual congressional vote for recertification — a process that was carried out prior to the PNTR being agreed to in 2000.

Moolenaar’s bill would codify tariffs in statute and create a new tariff column for China, phasing in increases in tariffs on nonstrategic goods and strategic goods.

Other provisions in the bill would provide tariff revenue to U.S. farmers and manufacturers “injured by possible Chinese retaliation.” And additional revenue would be used to purchase munitions related to deterring Chinese military actions in the Pacific.

It’s not likely the bill will be taken up during the lame-duck session in Congress, but it offers the incoming Trump administration leverage in trade talks with China and would likely face a smooth pathway to passage in the Republican-controlled Congress next year.