US President George W. Bush said that he will request Congress this week to extend Normal Trade Relations (NTR) status to China for another year, according to reports from Los Angeles.
In a speech Tuesday at the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, President Bush said that the United States trades with China because trade is "a good policy" for "our economy" and for "our national security."
"Because trade creates prosperity...I will notify Congress on June 1 that I intend to extend normal trade relations status with China for another year," he said.
Last year, US Congress passed legislation granting China Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) as soon as the country enters the World Trade Organization, abandoning what Beijing had seen as an unfair practice of annual review by the US legislature over its trade benefits.
The PNTR legislation, however, has not yet gone into effect since negotiations are still going on for China to be admitted into the world trade bloc. Therefore, the annual review of China's trading status will be conducted again in Congress this year and the process has to be initiated by a formal request from President Bush in June.
(Xinhua 05/30/2001)
