Agence France Presse / Philippe Debeusscher
SAN JOSE, California, April 3 (AFP) - Two hundred CEOs from Silicon Valley's leading technology companies support permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) with China, US President Bill Clinton announced Monday.
Some 40 US governors are also backing PNTR, Clinton said, which US Congress must approve if a landmark US-China trade accord opening the way for China to enter the World Trade Organization (WTO) is to take effect.
Speaking at a Democratic Leadership Council conference in San Jose, a city in the heart of California's Silicon Valley, the president said pro-PNTR lobbyists included Motorola, Lucent Technologies, IBM, Dell and Alcatel.
"PNTR is an absolute priority for high-tech companies, and we consider it the most critical vote you will make in support of our high technology industries this year," the company executives said in a letter to Congress.
"Its provisions will greatly benefit our firms, our employees, and our industry more broadly," they wrote.
"Since only China made any trade concessions, it is a completely one-sided deal," they added.
In a landmark trade accord signed in November, China made sweeping market-opening concessions to US exporters in exchange for Washington supporting its effort to join the World Trade Organization (WTO).
China made clear that the deal depended on US Congress granting PNTR to Beijing, which would give it the same trade privileges enjoyed by all but a handful of countries.
Currently, China's trade status is subject to an often acrimonious annual process, in which some of Beijing's fiercest critics highlight human rights and labor abuses as well as concerns over proliferation and the fate of Taiwan, which the mainland considers a renegade province.
Foes of permanent NTR -- including some Republicans, many Democrats and their key labor union backers -- warn that passage would do away with any leverage Washington enjoys on those issues, while lower Chinese wages will cost jobs in the United States.
The White House has been lobbying strongly in favor of PNTR for China since the start of the year, while opposition among Democrats appears to have increased.
At Monday's conference, Clinton said: "There is a lot of controversy in Congress about this vote, and I've heard all the arguments. But I have to tell you first, in the entire history of trade agreements, I don't believe there's ever been one this weighted in our favor."
The president said the main consequence of blocking PNTR would be "to hurt America economically and to dramatically strain our relations with China" at a moment when the US hopes to maintain its ability to influence strained relations between China and Taiwan.
"I believe that if we do this (agree the measure), 20 years from now we will wonder why we ever had a serious debate about it," Clinton said.
"If we don't do it, 20 years from now we'll still be kicking ourselves for being so dumb. That's what I really believe."
"I think this is a big deal, and our country, and my successors in office, and their ability to do the right thing by you and by our values, will turn in no small measure on how we vote on this," Clinton said.:
