Hong Kong Government Office 77
香港政府駐英辦事處
6 Grafton Street London W1X 3LB
MAR 091/2
Background Briefing Paper
ра.
MAN 30
M 200
1.
USA TRADE RELATIONS WITH CHINA (with direct implications for Hong Kong)
The four trade issues between the USA and China, which would have had direct implications for Hong Kong, have all now been resolved. These issues were:
(a) China's MFN status (b) Section 301 action (c)
Special 301 action
(d) Export of Chinese goods made in prisons.
In all the four cases, Hong Kong's re-exports of products of China origin to the USA would have been affected.
2.
'The Special 301 action' and 'the prison-made goods' issues were settled earlier this year (see previous papers in this series). The 'MFN status' and 'Section 301 action' issues have been settled recently.
China's MFN's status in the USA
3.
Under USA law, China's Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status would expire on 3 July each year unless the President of the USA renews it before 3 June each year.
4.
In the past few years, 'MFN' has become an annual issue in the US Congress. Since 1990, the US Congress has tried either to discontinue China's MFN status or to impose conditions such as improvement in human rights on the continued granting of MFN status.
5.
a
In 1992, President Bush transmitted to Congress his decision to extend China's MFN status for another year (1992/93) on 2 June. On 22 September, Congress presented Bill imposing conditions on China's MFN status for 1993/94 to the President, who vetoed it on 28 September. While the House of Representatives voted by 345 to 74 votes to override the veto, the vote in the Senate by 59 to 40 votes failed to achieve the requisite two-thirds majority, so the President's veto was sustained.
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