Will PNTR Be Revoked?

In 2001, the United States of America (US) passed a bill providing the People’s Republic of China (China) with the Most Favored Nation identification, now known as Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) and allowed China to ascend to the World Trade Organization (WTO). In exchange for this agreement, China made assurances that it would follow WTO guidelines and other conditions set out for it.

The U.S.-China Security and Economic Review Commission (USCC), a government think tank that researches trade, economics, politics, and defensive capabilities of the US and China, made the recommendation to suspend PNTR with China in its 2022 report to Congress. It based this recommendation on claims that China is not living up to its obligations set out in the 1999 agreement on Market Access Between the People’s Republic of China and the United States of America. These obligations were not mentioned directly in the report, but other think tanks have identified market access and restrictions, protection of foreign intellectual property, and technical barriers to trade as some areas where China has fallen short of its obligations to the WTO.

Since the recommendation from the USCC, Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) have proposed the Ending Normal Trade Relations with China Act and the China Trade Relations Act respectively. Both Senators listed protecting American jobs as a leading reason for proposing these bills. If passed, these bills would suspend PNTR with China and subject dozens of Chinese exports to the higher Column Two Import Tariff Schedule. As of the time of writing neither bill has made it to committee review and no vote is scheduled on the floor of the Senate.