Illustration: Xia Qing/Global Times

An anti-China committee in the US House on Thursday introduced a bill attempting to end China's Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR), joining a couple of US Republicans who previously made similar attempts. The drastic move reflects these extreme politicians' Sinophobia, exacerbated by political discrimination and a Cold War mentality, Chinese observers said, noting that the US' policy rationality is being tested on whether it will reject such a dangerous proposal.

John Moolenaar, chairman of the US House "Select Committee on the CCP", has introduced a bill that proposes revoking China's PNTR, a policy in place for more than two decades, the Hill reported on Thursday.

Moolenaar claimed that "Having permanent normal trade relations with China has failed our country, eroded our manufacturing base, and sent jobs to our foremost adversary," according to a press release on his committee's website.

"For a period, some US politicians have been introducing such bills, but to date, most of them have not been accepted at the US House or Senate, which means the chances are slim that they will become law," Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Friday.

Repealing China's PNTR has been used as a threat by some US politicians, but the fact is that WTO membership guarantees PNTR status, Lü said.

Following the agreement between China and the US on China's accession to the WTO, the US announced in 2001 to grant China the PNTR status - which was previously called unconditional Most Favored Nation. All WTO members are granted Most Favored Nation as part of the process of joining the WTO.

In September this year, some US senators introduced a similar legislation in the Senate.

Observers said some US politicians' attempt to end China's PNTR is just a repeat of a solo "anti-China show" borne of anti-China sentiment. They said it tests the US' political mentality to not legislate such extreme bills and instead bring China-US relations back to the normal track. 

"With long-standing political discrimination and a Cold War mentality, some US politicians have purposely taken the extreme move to serve their own political agendas, disregarding the fact that the US itself is a possible casualty," Li Yong, a senior research fellow at the China Association of International Trade, told the Global Times on Friday.

Li said ending China's PNTR would have a serious impact on the US economy, which is still recovering amid rising living costs for common Americans.

Revoking the US' PNTR for China over the five-year period would lead to a peak loss of 744,000 American jobs, and a cumulative loss of 1.6 trillion dollars in US GDP, according to a report released in November 2023 by the US-China Business Council and advisory firm Oxford Economics, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

"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. This violates WTO rules, and will only harm the common interests of both countries and disrupt the global economy," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a press conference on November 11, responding to a question over US media reports saying that House Republicans are working on legislation that could remove China's PNTR.

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.