USC Subchapter I

22 U.S.C. § 6901 Findings

The Congress finds the following: (1) In 1980, the United States opened trade relations with the People’s Republic of China by entering into a bilateral trade agreement, which was approved by joint resolution enacted pursuant to section 2435(c) of title 19. (2) Since 1980, the President has consistently extended nondiscriminatory treatment to products of the People’s Republic of China, pursuant to his authority under section 2434 of title 19. (3) Since 1980, the United States has entered into several additional trade-related agreements with the People’s Republic of China, including a memorandum of understanding on market access in 1992, two agreements on intellectual property rights protection in 1992 and 1995, and an agreement on agricultural cooperation in 1999. (4) Trade in goods between the People’s Republic of China and the United States totaled almost $95,000,000,000 in 1999, compared with approximately $18,000,000,000 in 1989, representing growth of approximately 428 percent over 10 years. (5) The United States merchandise trade deficit with the People’s Republic of China has grown from approximately $6,000,000,000 in 1989 to over $68,000,000,000 in 1999, a growth of over 1,000 percent. (6) The People’s Republic of China currently restricts imports through relatively high tariffs and nontariff barriers, including import licensing, technology transfer, and local content requirements. (7) United States businesses attempting to sell goods to markets in the People’s Republic of China have complained of uneven application of tariffs, customs procedures, and other laws, rules, and administrative measures affecting their ability to sell their products in the Chinese market. (8) On November 15, 1999, the United States and the People’s Republic of China concluded a bilateral agreement concerning terms of the People’s Republic of China’s eventual accession to the World Trade Organization. (9) The commitments that the People’s Republic of China made in its November 15, 1999, agreement with the United States promise to eliminate or greatly reduce the principal barriers to trade with and investment in the People’s Republic of China, if those commitments are effectively complied with and enforced. (10) The record of the People’s Republic of China in implementing trade-related commitments has been mixed. While the People’s Republic of China has generally met the requirements of the 1992 market access memorandum of understanding and the 1992 and 1995 agreements on intellectual property rights protection, other measures remain in place or have been put into place which tend to diminish the benefit to United States businesses, farmers, and workers from the People’s Republic of China’s implementation of those earlier commitments. Notably, administration of tariff-rate quotas and other trade-related laws remains opaque, new local content requirements have proliferated, restrictions on importation of animal and plant products are not always supported by sound science, and licensing requirements for importation and distribution of goods remain common. Finally, the Government of the People’s Republic of China has failed to cooperate with the United States Customs Service in implementing a 1992 memorandum of understanding prohibiting trade in products made by prison labor. (11) The human rights record of the People’s Republic of China is a matter of very serious concern to the Congress. The Congress notes that the Department of State’s 1999 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for the People’s Republic of China finds that “[t]he Government’s poor human rights record deteriorated markedly throughout the year, as the Government intensified efforts to suppress dissent, particularly organized dissent.”. (12) The Congress deplores violations by the Government of the People’s Republic of China of human rights, religious freedoms, and worker rights that are referred to in the Department of State’s 1999 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for the People’s Republic of China, including the banning of the Falun Gong spiritual movement, denial in many cases, particularly politically sensitive ones, of effective representation by counsel and public trials, extrajudicial killings and torture, forced abortion and sterilization, restriction of access to Tibet and Xinjiang, perpetuation of “reeducation through labor”, denial of the right of workers to organize labor unions or bargain collectively with their employers, and failure to implement a 1992 memorandum of understanding prohibiting trade in products made by prison labor.

22 U.S.C. § 6902 Policy

It is the policy of the United States— (1) to develop trade relations that broaden the benefits of trade, and lead to a leveling up, rather than a leveling down, of labor, environmental, commercial rule of law, market access, anticorruption, and other standards across national borders; (2) to pursue effective enforcement of trade-related and other international commitments by foreign governments through enforcement mechanisms of international organizations and through the application of United States law as appropriate; (3) to encourage foreign governments to conduct both commercial and noncommercial affairs according to the rule of law developed through democratic processes; (4) to encourage the Government of the People’s Republic of China to afford its workers internationally recognized worker rights; (5) to encourage the Government of the People’s Republic of China to protect the human rights of people within the territory of the People’s Republic of China, and to take steps toward protecting such rights, including, but not limited to—(A) ratifying the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; (B) protecting the right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose a residence within the People’s Republic of China and the right to leave from and return to the People’s Republic of China; and (C) affording a criminal defendant—(i) the right to be tried in his or her presence, and to defend himself or herself in person or through legal assistance of his or her own choosing; (ii) the right to be informed, if he or she does not have legal assistance, of the right set forth in clause (i); (iii) the right to have legal assistance assigned to him or her in any case in which the interests of justice so require and without payment by him or her in any such case if he or she does not have sufficient means to pay for it; (iv) the right to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent, and impartial tribunal established by the law; (v) the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law; and (vi) the right to be tried without undue delay; and (6) to highlight in the United Nations Human Rights Commission and in other appropriate fora violations of human rights by foreign governments and to seek the support of other governments in urging improvements in human rights practices.

22 U.S.C. § 6903 Definitions

In this chapter: (1) Dispute Settlement UnderstandingThe term “Dispute Settlement Understanding” means the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes referred to in section 3511(d)(16) of title 19. (2) Government of the People’s Republic of ChinaThe term “Government of the People’s Republic of China” means the central Government of the People’s Republic of China and any other governmental entity, including any provincial, prefectural, or local entity and any enterprise that is controlled by the central Government or any such governmental entity or as to which the central Government or any such governmental entity is entitled to receive a majority of the profits. (3) Internationally recognized worker rightsThe term “internationally recognized worker rights” has the meaning given that term in section 2467(4) of title 19 and includes the right to the elimination of the “worst forms of child labor”, as defined in section 2467(6) of title 19. (4) Trade RepresentativeThe term “Trade Representative” means the United States Trade Representative. (5) WTO; World Trade OrganizationThe terms “WTO” and “World Trade Organization” mean the organization established pursuant to the WTO Agreement. (6) WTO AgreementThe term “WTO Agreement” means the Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization entered into on April 15, 1994. (7) WTO memberThe term “WTO member” has the meaning given that term in section 3501(10) of title 19.