WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Republican leader Trent Lott on Tuesday accused the Clinton administration of failing to press for passage of a landmark trade agreement with China and warned the deal was at risk of failing.
"Is the president and is this administration serious, really serious, about China being admitted to WTO and about permanent trade status for China?" Lott asked U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky at a hearing on the market-opening pact.
"Because if you are, you've got to do a lot more than you are doing now. We are not interested in a feckless exercise that produces no result, and enough is not being done and I am not going to stick my neck out and take the time up of the Senate if you all are not going to get into a war-room status and go all out."
The White House is pressing for a swift vote in the Senate on the agreement with China, hoping to score an early victory that would put pressure on a bitterly divided House of Representatives.
President Clinton is expected to meet with key senators later on Tuesday before submitting legislation this week asking Congress to grant China permanent trading privileges in the U.S. market.
Lott of Mississippi said the full Senate would not rush to vote on the trade deal, which calls on Beijing to open a wide range of markets, from agriculture to telecommunications.
"I'm not sure the Finance Committee or the Congress is going to want to go forward without knowing exactly what we're doing here," Lott said, adding that it was critical the administration have support of farm groups and their allies in Congress.
"If agriculture is not on board, you can kiss it goodbye."
In exchange for China opening up its markets, Clinton says the Republican-led Congress must grant China permanent normal trade relations, a status Beijing now gets only after an annual congressional review.
Permanent NTR would guarantee Chinese goods the same low-tariff access to U.S. markets as products from nearly every other nation.
The trade deal is crucial to China's application to the World Trade Organization, though Beijing must still wrap up talks with the European Union and other WTO members to enter the Geneva-based body, which sets global trading rules.
The legislation is sure to pass the Finance Committee, which is responsible for trade and tax issues. Fifteen senators on the 20-member panel told Reuters they would support the pact.
In the 100-member Senate, the vote may be close, but Democratic Leader Tom Daschle said he expected at least 60 senators to support the White House, enough to override a filibuster.
It remains to be seen whether the agreement would garner a 218-vote majority in the 435-member House, though administration officials were optimistic in the face of stiff opposition from labor unions and other groups.
Clinton is seeking final passage by both chambers before June. Timing is critical since the congressional session will be cut short by the November election, and some lawmakers may balk at the trade agreement as the campaign heats up.:
