WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Finance Committee is likely to vote on a landmark trade agreement with China shortly after President Clinton submits the legislation this week, U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky said Monday.
"The Senate has basically indicated, particularly the Senate Finance Committee, that it wishes to proceed immediately," Barshefsky told reporters, adding that she would meet the committee's chairman and other panel members to discuss the timing for a vote.
The White House is looking for an early victory in the Senate Finance Committee for the legislation, hoping to put pressure on a bitterly divided House of Representatives.
A Reuters poll published last week said that at least 15 senators on the 20-member committee would support the pact.
Under the landmark trade agreement hammered out in 1999, China would open a wide range of markets, from agriculture to telecommunications. In exchange, the White House said, the Republican-led Congress must grant China permanent normal trade relations (NTR) -- a status Beijing now gets only after an annual congressional review.
The trade deal is a crucial step for China to join the World Trade Organization, though Beijing must still wrap up talks with the EU and other WTO members to enter the Geneva-based body, which sets global trading rules. Barshefsky said Clinton was likely to send up permanent NTR legislation later this week.:
