Currently, under a 1974 law, trade relations with communist states must be reviewed annually. The bill is aimed at opening up China's markets, bringing billions of dollars in new business to American companies and making China a more responsible and accountable member of the world community. In exchange for the benefits, China has agreed to open a wide range of markets, from agriculture to telecommunications. Labor, human rights and conservative groups oppose the measure. Those organizations say it is wrong to give up the annual review of China trade.
Critics say the bill puts profits over people.
Since the 1989 crackdown on the Tiananmen Square student movement, the annual review has given lawmakers a way to highlight China's increase in weapons and persecution of its citizens. The legislation, the most important trade bill since the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement , enjoys the backing of Clinton, the congressional Republican leadership and the nation's major business and agriculture groups. Both presidential candidates, Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush, support permanent trade. The White House said the bill's final passage by the Senate would mark a turning point in relations between the world's richest and most populous nations, comparing it to former President Richard Nixon's milestone 1972 visit to China. The legislation is a consequence of a trade agreement between the United States and China last fall that opened the way for China's entry into the World Trade Organization .