Word: mfn
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
There is actually nothing special about MFN status; it is enjoyed by 182 countries that trade with the U.S., vs. only nine that lack it. But there is something quite special about losing MFN. Revocation would result in crippling tariff increases on the $30 billion worth of goods China sells to the U.S. each year -- everything from steel pipes to shirts, sneakers and stuffed animals. According to the argument Clinton seems to have bought, taking away MFN would hurt both the Chinese and U.S. economies because Beijing would retaliate against American firms that are creating a multibillion-dollar market...
Clinton, however, is unlikely to extend MFN without any conditions. The President boxed himself into a corner a year ago by issuing an Executive Order that made any extension of MFN past June 3 dependent on "significant progress" by China on human-rights issues. Given the meager improvements so far, Clinton & Co. are not going to find it easy to make a plausible case to the human-rights lobby -- or the American public. In a TIME/CNN poll conducted last week, 62% of respondents felt that encouraging human rights in China was more important than trade, and 60% said...
...betting now is that Clinton will couple a general continuance of MFN with some largely symbolic exceptions. One idea is to raise tariffs sharply on products made by Chinese state-owned industries or factories controlled by the People's Liberation Army. Clinton could claim that he is penalizing Beijing without hurting China's private entrepreneurs...
Beijing's leaders are, like Clinton, prisoners of their past rhetoric. They have insisted so loudly on extension of MFN with no conditions that they might have to retaliate against even pinprick sanctions. Washington expects dollar- for-dollar revenge: if the U.S. restricts $1 billion worth of Chinese imports, China would take some kind of action against $1 billion in U.S. goods or services. The U.S. would suffer far more: $1 billion lost would amount to 11.4% of the $8.8 billion annual U.S. sales to China, but only 3.3% of the $30 billion China sells each year...
...most telling pro-MFN argument is that trade threats are of no use in making the leaders of China grant more political liberty -- especially now. The country is going through a bumpy transition from a managed to a market economy: inflation has hit an annual rate of more than 20% in big cities, and unemployment is growing as the government shuts down inefficient state industries. Scattered worker protests and strikes have struck fear in Beijing that the authorities could lose control. A leadership succession struggle cannot be long postponed: top boss Deng Xiaoping is approaching his 90th birthday and ailing...