(Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR))
China and the U.S. signed a bilateral agreement on China's accession to the WTO on November 15, 1999. The U.S. Government promised to make all efforts to press to solve the issue of China Permanent Normal Trade Status. On January 10, 2000, U.S. President Bill Clinton announced the establishment of a team consisting of his cabinet members and headed by Secretary of Commerce William Daley and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Steve Ricchetti to coordinate with the Congress and urge the Congress to support the U.S.-China WTO agreement. Thereafter in the State of the Union Address and on many other important occasions, President Clinton urged both Republicans and Democrats in the Congress to support the agreement and grant the China PNTR. On March 8, the Clinton Administration submitted a bill on granting China PNTR.
On May 24, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill granting China PNTR by a favorable majority of 237 votes against 197 votes. On September. 19, the U.S. Senate passed the same bill with 83 for, 15 against, and 2 abstentions. On October10, the bill was signed by President Clinton into law. That marked the death of the twenty–year- long practice of examination and debate on granting China the Most Favored Nation (MFN) status on the U.S. side, thus removing the long-existing obstacle to the development of China-U.S. trade relations, and was of major significance for the sustained, healthy and smooth development of the bilateral economic cooperation as well as the overall China-U.S. relationship. With regard to some contents of the act that interfere with China's internal affairs and are harmful to China's national interest, the Chinese side made serious representations to the U.S. side, and explicitly made clear its position of firm opposition.
On July 18, the U.S. House of Representatives voted down a bill put forward by the House Representative Dana Rohrabacher on the cancellation of Normal Trade Relations status to China with a majority votes of 218 against 147, which made that status extended for another year.
(Source: website of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs)