FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 22, 2000

Contact:
Eric Thomas
202/822-9491

National Foreign Trade Council Calls China Sanctions Bill "Profoundly Flawed"

Washington, D.C. – In a letter delivered to all Senators today, Frank Kittredge, President of the National Foreign Trade Council called for opposition to S.2645, the "China Nonproliferation Act."

"The bill is profoundly flawed and would cause a severe negative impact on U.S. relations with China," said Kittredge. "This legislation would impose unilateral U.S. sanctions on China and make it harder for the U.S. to persuade China to abide by its multilateral agreements. We are in strong opposition to S.2645."

In the letter, NFTC outlined five reasons the bill should be opposed.

• Unilateral economic sanctions almost never achieve their objectives – and in this case the legislation would jeopardize current Chinese cooperation with multilateral non-proliferation efforts.
  
  
• The bill is unnecessary because the President already has all the legal authority he needs, under existing statutes, to impose sanctions on countries for weapons proliferation.
  
  
• The bill would undo a major benefit of extending Permanent Normal Trade Relations to China by requiring Congress to vote each year on whether to impose unilateral non-proliferation sanctions on China.
  
  
• The bill will hurt American exporters by restricting Ex-Im Bank financing. Farmers would be especially vulnerable through restrictions to GSM-102 and 103, thereby ceding their eighth largest export market to foreign competition.
  
  
• The bill is loosely drafted, allowing sanctions to be triggered by "credible information."

The full text of the letter is available on the USA*ENGAGE web site at www.usaengage.org.

The National Foreign Trade Council was founded in 1914. From that date to the present, NFTC has been a leading spokesman on behalf of the private sector for an open international trade and investment regime. NFTC's membership consists of 580 U.S. manufacturing corporations, financial institutions and other U.S. firms having substantial international operations or interests.

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