SAN FRANCISCO, March 3 (Reuters) - President Bill Clinton next week will officially begin his uphill battle with Congress to pass trade legislation for China that would pave the way for it to enter the World Trade Organization, White House officials said on Friday.
White House spokesman Jake Siewert said the Clinton administration had decided the time was now right to submit legislation granting China so-called permanent normal trade relations as required under a November deal between Washington and Beijing.
With China's recent threats that it could invade Taiwan and election politics heating up, the measure's prospects in Congress are increasingly dim.
"It is likely that we will send the actual legislation to the Hill within the next week," Siewert said.
Asked why next week was chosen, Siewert said: "It is our judgment that it's the most effective time to send it up. The right time."
Siewert said the administration was hoping for an early vote, but that no date had been set for a vote in either the House of Representatives or the Senate.
He said the administration had not yet decided which house of Congress it would seek a vote in first, and that administration officials were still consulting with lawmakers.
Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress have warned Clinton that the market-opening pact was in peril, while blocking the deal is a big priority for labor unions this election year.
Many lawmakers are up in arms over China's latest threat to invade Taiwan. Others want China to improve human rights and labor standards, and cite concerns about Beijing's record of weapons proliferation.
The trade agreement, hammered out last year, calls for China to open a wide range of markets, from agriculture to telecommunications.
In exchange, the White House says the Republican-controlled Congress must grant China permanent normal trade relations (NTR) -- a status Beijing is now granted annually.
Permanent NTR would guarantee Chinese goods the same low-tariff access to U.S. markets as products from nearly every other nation.
Support from the United States is a crucial step for China to join the World Trade Organization (WTO). But Beijing must still wrap up negotiations with the European Union and other WTO members to enter the Geneva-based body, which sets global trading rules.:
