House Select Committee: U.S. Must Revoke Free Trade with China, Hike Tariffs

The United States ought to hike tariffs on China and revoke its decades-long, job-killing free trade policy with the communist country, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) recommends.

Over the last year, the bipartisan committee investigated the economic impact that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has had on the nation’s job market, manufacturing base, and national security since entering the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001.

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) chairs the committee alongside Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL). Reps. Andy Barr (R-KY), Jim Banks (R-IN), Ashley Hinson (R-IA), Ro Khanna (D-CA), and Seth Moulton (D-MA) are among the members who sit on the committee.

In its report, issued Tuesday, the committee recommends President Joe Biden’s administration, as well as Congress, adopt nearly 150 policies to counter the CCP’s grasp on the U.S. economy.

Among the recommendations is the pivotal policy to revoke China’s permanent normal trade relations status (PNTR) with the U.S., which was approved in 2001 by Congress and backed by former President George W. Bush.

“We acknowledge that granting the PRC PNTR did not lead to the benefits expected for the United States nor did it lead to the structural reforms in the PRC that Congress expected,” the committee writes:

Instead, it has ceded critical U.S. economic leverage in our relationship with the PRC. Furthermore, the PRC’s consistent failure to meet its WTO obligations and its systemic and widespread State and Party intervention in market decisions, economic coercion, IP theft, cyber-attacks, forced labor, lack of basic transparency, and the rule of law have harmed U.S. industry, workers, and manufacturers. [Emphasis added]

Therefore, Congress should:

Move the PRC to a new tariff column that restores U.S. economic leverage to ensure that the PRC abides by its trade commitments and does not engage in coercive or other unfair trade practices and decreases U.S. reliance on PRC imports in sectors important for national and economic security. This shift should be phased in over a relatively short period of time to give our economy the time necessary to adjust without avoidable disruptions. [Emphasis added]

Chairman @RepGallagher and RM @CongressmanRaja joint statement upon the adoption of the Select Committee’s proposal to reset the U.S. economic relationship with China.

“With this report, the Select Committee has shown that the bipartisan will exists to meet the call of history.” pic.twitter.com/zVsVwlCCA3

— Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (@committeeonccp) December 12, 2023

Likewise, the committee recommends Congress pass the COOL Online Act to require country-of-origin labeling for products purchased by American consumers online.

The bill has been introduced by Rep. Carlos Giménez (R-FL) and Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and is cosponsored by Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ) as well as Sens. J.D. Vance (R-OH), Rick Scott (R-FL), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Mike Braun (R-IN), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH).

Also, the committee wants Congress and Biden to approve a measure that would ban U.S. investment in Chinese corporations that have been flagged by the federal government for their ties to the CCP and the national security threat they pose.

Michael Stumo, CEO of the Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA), praised the committee’s findings and recommendations:

Importantly, this bipartisan report recognizes that granting China permanent normal trade relations status was a serious mistake, and that Congress must revoke China’s status to counter the CCP’s economic and trade strategy that has devastated American manufacturers and workers. Additionally, we applaud the Committee for recognizing that CCP companies engaged in human rights abuses and forced labor, as well as Chinese military firms, are being funded by U.S. capital markets. While some lawmakers who are beholden to Wall Street want to allow this to continue, Members of the House China Committee recognize that funding our greatest geopolitical and military adversary through our capital markets is insanity and must be addressed. [Emphasis added]

The U.S. trade deficit with China, since 2001, has eliminated nearly four million American jobs. Almost three million of these lost jobs, or about 75 percent, were in the nation’s manufacturing sector.

A study from CPA, published in September, shows that ending U.S. free trade with China would create some two million American jobs and grow the nation’s economy by nearly two percent.

Another study from 2022 similarly found that imposing U.S. tariffs on all foreign imports would create a whopping ten million American jobs — three million of which would be high-paying manufacturing jobs, while 6.9 million would be jobs in supporting industries.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.