California Congressman Wants to End Vietnam NTR
Measure aims to deny renewal of conditional Normal Trade Status? for the Southeast Asian country.
WASHINGTON, DC - The measure - House Joint Resolution 64 - was sent to House Ways and Means Committee for action on July 9 and calls for the denial of renewed conditional normal trade relations (NTR) status for Vietnam.
 Drafted by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), the measure would deny President Bush the authority to extend the current waiver of the Jackson-Vanik provisions of the Trade Act of 1974.
Under those provisions, a bilateral trade agreement and certification of freedom of emigration are necessary for the US to establish conditional NTR, formerly known as most-favored-nation (MFN) status, with non-market economies such as Vietnam. President Bush recommended a waiver extension for Vietnam in May.
The proposed resolution had no co-sponsors and was referred to the House Ways and Means Committee for action. A majority of the committee strongly favors trade with Vietnam, and that committee has negatively reported such resolutions to the full House in the past.
Rohrabacher is a member of the House International Relations Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, as well as that committee's newly-created Subcommittee on International Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Human Rights.
He is a staunch, long-time opponent of Vietnam's Communist government, and has submitted similar resolutions in the past on trade with the Hanoi regime that have all gone down to defeat.
The eight-term lawmaker is also the chairman of the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee of the House Science Committee.
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Friday, November 21, 2008 
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