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1 1 (November 19, 2001)

handle is hein.crs/crsiwsaaacf0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS20139 Updated November 19, 2001 China and the World Trade Organization Wayne M. Morrison Specialist in International Trade and Finance Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division Summary China has sought over the past several years to become a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the international agency that administers multilateral trade rules. In September 2001, China completed its multilateral negotiations with the WTO Working Party handling its accession application and reached a trade agreement with Mexico, the last of the original 37 WTO members that requested a bilateral trade agreement with China. China's WTO membership (as well as that of Taiwan's) was formally approved at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar in November 2001. China is expected to join the WTO on December 11, 2001. WTO accession commits China to significantly reducing a wide variety of tariff and non-tariff barriers. Legislation (H.R. 4444) granting China permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status (once it joins the WTO) was enacted into law on October 10, 2000 (P.L. 106-286). A main concern for Congress is to ensure that China fully complies with its WTO commitments once it accedes. This report will be updated as events warrant. To accede to the WTO, China must change many laws, institutions, and policies to bring them into conformity with international trade rules. The negotiations on China's accession to the WTO have 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, and trade-distorting government subsidies. The WTO Accession Process The rules for joining the WTO are stated in the Agreement Establishing the WTO, which was signed on April 15, 1995, as part of the Final Act implementing the results of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations. The Agreement provides that any state or separate customs territory may accede to the WTO on terms to be agreed between it and the WTO. It further provides that decisions on accession shall be taken by the Congressional Research Service + The Library of Congress CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web

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