James F. Gauss, Ph.D.
March 27, 2024
Many years ago, during the Bill Clinton presidency, my wife stopped at a local convenience store. Behind the counter was a high school student. As the student waited on my wife, somehow the casual conversation turned to China and all the Chinese products that were showing up in local stores. The student gleefully declared that her teacher told his class the China was America’s friend and could be counted on and would be good for America and its citizens.
Below is an excerpt from Revelation 18 and the Fate of America (2021 Edition) that describes the post-Clinton era reality of China.
The eagerness of U.S. politicians and businesspeople to reap the financial rewards of a burgeoning Chinese market led to extremely poor judgments (intentional or unintentional) that greatly compounded America’s financial condition and will plague Americans for decades to come. China can single- handedly credit its rapid rise to economic and world power to the ill- advised decisions of America’s powerbrokers and left-leaning political socialists.
It All Started Here. While on the campaign trail on March 9, 1992, Democratic presidential candidate, William Clinton, professed that he was adamantly against granting China Most Favored Nation (MFN) status. However, only seven months after Clinton won the presidential election with only 43 percent of the vote in a three-way contest, he rapidly reversed his campaign position, granting China MFN status with his Executive Order 12850 on May 28, 1993.
In promoting his decision before the American people, Clinton stated, “Yesterday the American people won a tremendous victory as a majority of the House of Representatives [of which 59 percent were Democrats] joined me in adopting our plan to revitalize America’s economic future.” But, did the American people win?
He went on to proclaim that, “The core of this policy will be a resolute insistence upon significant progress on human rights in China. To implement this policy,” Clinton continued, “I am signing today an Executive order that will have the effect of extending most- favored-nation status for China for 12 months. Whether I extend MFN next year, however, will depend upon whether China makes significant progress in improving its human rights record.”
Despite his bold and stern proclamation, China made no progress with its human rights record over the next year and Clinton had no intention of denying the renewal of China’s MFN status. One year later, without much fanfare, he quietly renewed the status on May 27, 1994, claiming that, “This decision offers us the best opportunity to lay the basis for long-term sustainable progress on human rights and advancement of our other interests with China.”
Senate Majority Leader, George Mitchell (D-Maine), disagreed with Clinton’s decision. “This decision,” he stated, “will confirm for the regime the success of its policy of repression on human rights and manipulation of trade.” Indeed it did. To date, 26 years later, China has made no significant progress on human rights abuses and flagrantly manipulates trade in its favor—basically thumbing its nose at Washington.
In fact, the United States, during Clinton’s final year in office, on September 12, 2000, and with an 83-15 Senate vote, overwhelmingly approved Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status for China.
How it Worked Out for America and Americans. To further justify his position, President Clinton offered this dangling carrot: “China will open its markets to American products from wheat to cars to consulting services, and our companies will be far more able to sell goods without moving factories or investments there.” With that enticement, American businesses, from family-run farms to mega corporations, had visions of unrestrained wealth rolling in from the land of over one billion “consumers.”
Representative Bill Archer (R-TX), the lead sponsor of the bill, commented, “The American people support this agreement because they know it’s good for jobs in America and good for human rights and the development of democracy in China.”
However, it was never good for the American people, even though they readily feasted on an ever-expanding supply of cheap products that were once made in America. It was never good for American jobs. Many were “shipped” overseas to China as thousands of businesses re-located their manufacturing to China and wages of the American worker stagnated or decreased in real dollars. Also, it has never been good for human rights in China or the development of democratic ideals.
In an article in the Washington Times on September 11, 2020, the day before the 20th anniversary of the granting of PNTR status to the communist country, the writer, Michael McKenna, referred to the Clinton PNTR agreement as a colossal mistake. In his short piece, McKenna commented, “catastrophic miscalculations of Chinese intent by Congress played a significant role in shattering the postwar foreign policy consensus . . .”
During his 2016 presidential run, Donald Trump offered his assessment of the PNTR deal. “China’s entrance into the WTO has enabled the greatest job theft in the history of our country.” He was right on target. According to McKenna, since 2000, an estimated five million U.S. manufacturing jobs have been lost as American companies fled to China for cheap labor and production costs. It was, indeed, a gross miscalculation and sellout of the American people by their political leaders, from which America will never recover. It “was uniform sentiment among the political class,” McKenna wrote, “that inviting China into the community of nations would eventually produce changes inside of China, undermine the power of the Chinese Communist Party, and reduce its indifference toward killing its own citizens.” America’s leaders could not have been more mistaken.
As an example of the imbalanced trade impact, McKenna cited Youngstown, Ohio. This once prosperous manufacturing city in eastern Ohio, had a growing population that peaked in 1930 at 170,002. By 1990, three years before Clinton’s MFN declaration for China, Youngstown had contracted to 95,695. By 2000, the year Clinton conferred PNTR status for China, the city had further declined to 81,720. Youngstown residents, like those of thousands of cities across America, were hoping for a revitalization of their community with new Chinese markets and new jobs to bolster its flagging economy. It never happened! In fact, Youngstown’s 2019 census indicated the city’s population had dropped another 20 percent to 65,469 or 61.5% less than the peak of 1930. While indicative of communities across the nation, Youngstown was just the tip of the destructive iceberg known as China. As McKenna noted, when manufacturing or other major businesses in a city are forced to fold, soon to follow are hundreds of small business employers (restaurants, salons, retail shops, malls, etc.), and the tax base declines, affecting schools and essential city services.
To be continued . . . .
Revelation 18 and the Fate of America (2021 Edition) is also available as an eBook on Barnes & Noble and Kobo.
Visit the author’s website for more book options.
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