Bipartisan panel urges Congress to toss out decades of trade policy they say China has been exploiting

President Biden and China's President Xi Jinping met on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, at the APEC Summit in Lima, Peru. A federal China commission released its sprawling yearly report to Congress on Tuesday, for the first time recommending lawmakers end China's favored trade status and the provision that allows goods under 800 to enter the U.S. duty-free. The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, established by Congress as a bipartisan entity to investigate and provide policy recommendations on China, is now directly advocating for Congress to end the Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) China has enjoyed since 2004. The committee will pitch its 83 policy recommendations to lawmakers on Tuesday, along with a report on China's military capabilities, its threats to U.S. allies in the region and how it is exploiting U.S. policy for its own advancement. "For decades we have engaged in whack-a-mole policy working within international organizations and guidelines to address the increasing and ambitious efforts by China to skirt laws or take advantage of trade loopholes," commission chair Robin Cleveland said. "In our hearing on the threats to American consumers this year we heard from administration and expert witnesses who were starkly clear: U.S. agencies do not know if the majority of packages coming from China include a baby toy painted with a toxic chemical--a counterfeit piece of clothing made with slave labor--or a pin head amount of fentanyl which is enough to kill the average citizen."