Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian Photo: Chinese Foreign Ministry

In response to a Bloomberg's query about reports that several US House Republicans have been working on legislation that could potentially revoke China's permanent normal trade relations or PNTR status, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian stated on Monday that some US politicians are attempting to turn back the wheel of history and pull the China-US trade and economic relations back to the Cold War era. 

Following the agreement between China and the US on China's accession to the WTO, the US announced in 2001 to grant permanent normal trade relations status to China, Lin said. 

[Certain US lawmakers' action] this violates WTO rules, and will only harm the common interests of both countries, and disrupt the global economy. We urge certain US Congress members to earnestly abide by WTO rules and stop saying or doing anything that do no one good, Lin said. 

Several senior House Republicans have been privately working on legislation to dramatically alter the US' trade relationship with China, US-based Punchbowl News reported, indicating that the legislation could potentially revoke China's PNTR status.

Global Times