Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, introduced a bill on Thursday aimed at ending normal trade relations with China. His proposal seeks to revoke China’s Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR), a policy that has been in place for over 20 years.
As both parties increasingly criticize Beijing’s unfair trade practices, President Biden has continued to enforce tariffs on Chinese goods that were initially imposed during the Trump administration.
President-elect Trump has also called for a 60 percent tariff on all Chinese goods, and Moolenaar’s proposed legislation would strengthen U.S. efforts to exert greater control over Chinese imports. “Last year, our bipartisan Select Committee overwhelmingly agreed that the United States must reset its economic relationship with China.
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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 similar bill was 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 proposed legislation would eliminate China’s PNTR and remove the annual congressional vote for recertification, a procedure that existed before the PNTR agreement in 2000.
Moolenaar’s bill also includes provisions to make tariffs law and establish a new tariff category for China. It would phase in tariff increases on both nonstrategic and strategic goods. Additional provisions would direct tariff revenue to U.S. farmers and manufacturers affected by potential Chinese retaliation, and some of the revenue would be allocated to purchase munitions to counter Chinese military actions in the Pacific.
Although the bill is unlikely to be taken up during the current lame-duck session of Congress, it provides the incoming Trump administration with leverage for future trade negotiations with China and would likely pass smoothly in a Republican-controlled Congress next year.
