Effort Launched to OK Terms of China’s Admission to WTO

President Clinton on Monday formally launched what promises to be one of his toughest--and most important--remaining battles with Congress by naming two senior members of his administration to head a campaign to win legislative approval for terms of China’s admission to the World Trade Organization.

Speaking at a brief White House ceremony, Clinton appointed Commerce Secretary William Daley and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Steven Ricchetti to get a positive vote from Congress on the crucial China issue. He also made it clear that many senior White House staff and other Cabinet members will also be deployed in the fight.

“To get this done, I am directing [my team] to launch an all-out effort,” Clinton said. “I am asking them to do everything they can to accomplish the task. This agreement is a good deal for America.”

U.S. trade officials also announced that India has agreed to slash a range of trade barriers against the United States, a deal that should benefit some California farmers.

The accord, affecting textiles, agriculture and a broad range of consumer products, raises the possibility of growing trade ties between the U.S. and India, a nation that has consistently chosen to remain on the fringe of the global economy. Despite its population of more than 1 billion and a growing middle class, total U.S. trade with India last year came to less than $12 billion.

The deal announced Monday affects a wide array of items produced in California and elsewhere in the U.S., including wine, clothing, rice, cotton, broccoli, cauliflower, home appliances and wool rugs.

California almond and citrus growers stand to gain the most from eased trade restrictions, farm industry experts said. The state’s almond growers, who shipped about $35 million in almonds to India last year--23 million pounds, or about 2% of production--expect that dollar volume to double in the next couple of years.

“It’s a huge opportunity for us,” said Christine DeMont, marketing director for the Almond Board of California.

Similarly, Sunkist Growers, the big citrus cooperative whose products have been kept out of India by a trade embargo, said India has nearly as much potential as China as the two nations’ barriers come down--as much as $100 million annually in about five years.

“The potential benefit to U.S. exporters is significant,” said Amy Stilwell, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative. “In many cases, minimal or no imports were allowed at all by India for years and years.”

Under the agreement, India will lift 1,400 import restrictions--half in the next three months, and the remainder by April 2001.

By contrast, India’s giant neighbor, China, has emerged as a key global player, both politically and economically. Indeed, the stakes in the China-WTO battle to be played out in Congress in the coming months are considerable, extending well beyond the trade relationship that has mushroomed to $80 billion annually over the last decade. For many, the vote will have much to say about the larger strategic U.S. relationship with China as well as the pace of Beijing’s progress in such important areas as workers rights, human rights and the environment.

In fact, the enormity of the stakes involved in the China vote is one of the few things on which both advocates and opponents agree. Backers of the deal see it as key to opening up China not only to new trade opportunities but also to new ideas that would ease political repression. Critics insist approval should be used as a carrot to force concessions from Beijing on political freedoms.

Proponents greeted Daley’s appointment as a sign of the administration’s seriousness. Daley led the successful 1993 effort to win passage of the Clinton administration’s first major trade initiative, the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, which essentially transformed the U.S., Canada and Mexico into a single market for goods and services. He also is widely viewed as one of the most effective members of the Clinton Cabinet.

“We Republicans will be there,” said Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas), chairman of the House Rules Committee and the point person in the House Republican leadership on the China-WTO vote. “The focus [of the administration’s lobbying efforts] must be on the Democrats.”

Dreier said China’s entry into the WTO is important to develop additional export markets to sustain America’s economic growth, but especially so for the economy of California as a gateway to the Pacific Rim.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Monday pledged “millions” of dollars toward the lobbying effort.

Times staff writer Melinda Fulmer in Los Angeles contributed to this report.