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1 1 (August 6, 2003)

handle is hein.crs/crsiwsaaabr0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS20139 Updated August 6, 2003 CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web China and the World Trade Organization Wayne M. Morrison Specialist in International Trade and Finance Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division Summary After many years of difficult negotiations, China, on December 11, 2001, become a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the international agency that administers multilateral trade rules. Under the terms of its WTO membership, China agreed to significantly liberalize its trade and investment regimes, which could produce significant new commercial opportunities for U.S. businesses. A main concern for Congress is to ensure that China fully complies with its WTO commitments. According to U.S. government officials and many business representatives, China's WTO compliance record has been mixed. This report will be updated as events warrant. After 15 years of bilateral and multilateral negotiations, China formally entered the WTO on December 11, 2001. The negotiations on China's accession to the WTO focused on many Chinese practices that distort flows of trade to and from China, such as high tariffs and non-tariff barriers, restrictions on foreign investment, lack of national treatment for foreign firms, inadequate protection of intellectual property rights (IPR), and trade-distorting government subsidies. Membership in the WTO requires China to change many laws, institutions, and policies to bring them into conformity with WTO rules.' China made WTO accession a major priority for a number of reasons. First, it would represent international recognition of China's growing economic power. Second, it would enable China to play a major role in the development of new international rules on trade in the WTO. Third, it would give China access to the dispute resolution process in the WTO, reducing the threat of unilaterally imposed restrictions on Chinese exports. Fourth, it would make it easier for reformers in China to push for liberalization policies if they could argue that such steps are necessary to fulfill China's international obligations. Finally, Chinese leaders hoped WTO membership would induce the United States to grant China permanent normal trade relations (PNTR), or most-favored-nation (MFN), status, thus ending the annual trade status renewal process and subsequent congressional debate over U.S.-China relations. Congressional Research Service + The Library of Congress 1 For additional information on China's WTO accession and other topics in U.S.-China trade relations, see CRS Issue Brief 91121, China-U.S. Trade Issues, updated regularly.

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