American companies and farmers -- from Internet moguls in Silicon Valley to orange growers in Florida -- supported normal trade ties with China so they could benefit fully from an accord that Washington and Beijing negotiated last November.
"There are people who want to kill this trade deal with China, and China is playing right into their hands," said Senator Gordon H. Smith, an Oregon Republican who supports normal trading relations with China.
I strongly support permanent normal trade relations with China, and I will continue to press the Congress to support it this year.
He said he had seen the impact of free trade on workers in the United States and abroad and now doubted whether he would again support permanent normal trade relations with China, which he voted for as a senator.
The officials said that they thought most of the economists who signed the letter personally support permanent normal trade relations, but that some do not and that others felt uncomfortable taking a political stand.
"I know that one of your legislative priorities is to urge members of Congress not to support permanent normal trade relations with China," he went on, referring to the vote scheduled for Wednesday.
In a boost for supporters of the bill, Representative Steny H. Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat who has opposed granting China trade privileges in the annual votes, said yesterday that he would support permanent normal trading status.
He also spoke briefly about his support for establishing normal trade relations with China.
Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, the presumed Republican nominee, supports permanent normal trading status as a condition of bringing China into the World Trade Organization.
Your editorial supporting permanent normal trading status for China ignores dramatic public opposition to the proposal since recent polls indicate that Americans oppose this "clear choice" by a margin of more than 3 to 1. Free trade advocates attribute negative public opinion to the fact that they simply haven't done a sufficient job publicizing the benefits of free trade with China.
