Washington: Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), along with Sens. Rick Scott (R-Florida), Ted Budd (R-North Carolina), and J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) have introduced the China Trade Relations Act to strip China of its Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status.

This legislation would require China to obtain Most Favored Nation (MFN) status through annual presidential approval, per the requirements of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment.

The bill would also expand the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to include human rights and trade abuses as disqualifying factors for MFN status.

Bill's text can be found here.

“For twenty years, Communist China has held permanent most-favored-nation status, which has supercharged the loss of American manufacturing jobs. China never deserved this privilege in the first place, and China certainly does not deserve it today. It’s time to protect American jobs and hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for their forced labor camps and egregious human rights violations,” said Cotton.

“The CCP cares about one thing: undermining America. There is no reason why the United States should be helping a communist government’s trade operation through preferential treatment and ‘most-favored-nation’ status. That is absolutely absurd when they are working against us. It is time to put American interests first, not the CCP, and reverse this antiquated law,” said Scott.

“The Chinese Communist Party is not America’s friend, and it is not a force for good in the world. From human rights abuses to the theft of U.S. jobs and intellectual property, the CCP must be held accountable. One of the most effective ways to push back on the CCP is to enact Senator Cotton’s bill to end China’s Permanent Normal Trade Relations status,” said Budd.

“In the state of Ohio, we have lost over 130,000 jobs since Congress made the catastrophic mistake of granting China special trade privileges two decades ago. I have seen the devastating effects of this job loss first hand, and I know it’s past time we did something to reverse that trend. This legislation is a strong step toward defending American jobs and revitalizing our domestic manufacturing capacity,” said Vance.