Fed Chairman Is Called to Help Sell China Bill

President Clinton summoned to the White House Rose Garden one of the most influential economic figures in Washington in an effort Thursday to blunt the argument that China will be the only winner if its trade with the United States is increased.

As supporters of the proposal to make permanent a normal trade relationship between the United States and China were cautiously sanguine, Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, publicly blessed the president’s China trade plan.

Reiterating a message that he already had delivered to Congress--indeed, reading from his understated congressional remarks to avoid sending a signal that he was embarking on a new course--Greenspan said that the measure “is in the interests of the United States.”

“As China’s citizens experience economic gains,” he said, “so will the American firms that trade in their expanding markets.”

The president, emphasizing the significance of Greenspan’s visit, said: “Chairman Greenspan has established a pretty good record for knowing what is in America’s economic interest.”

Greenspan spoke at the start of a day in which the Clinton administration continued to press undecided House members to support the trade initiative, which the president has called the most important national security vote Congress will face this year. Opponents insisted that the fight is not over.

The White House held out hope that, in the midst of a crucial “sweeps” rating month, the television networks would carry a presidential address to the nation Sunday night, a course Clinton has used only sparingly. Aides said that he had delivered four such speeches on pending legislation during his first term but none during his second.

Approval of the trade measure, which paves the way for China to join the World Trade Organization, requires a majority in the House, which is expected to vote late next week, and in the Senate, where approval is considered certain.

In another trade development, Clinton signed legislation opening the United States to increased imports from poor African, Caribbean and Central American nations.

Meanwhile, Bill Klinefelter, a lobbyist for steelworkers, ridiculed Clinton’s scheduled television appearance. “That’s not a man who has the votes,” he said. “The president is trying to pull a rabbit out of a hat.”

A Republican opponent of the plan has asked the networks for equal time.

The administration used Greenspan to try to counter fears that the plan would undermine efforts to improve human rights in China and threaten jobs in U.S. industries unable to compete with a nation where production costs are kept low by a living standard--and wages--a fraction of those in the United States. There are also concerns that the United States would lose leverage over Beijing by giving up annual votes on its trade status.

The vote, Greenspan said, “will have profound implications for the free world’s trading system and the long-term growth potential of the American economy.” The measure would also ease poverty and promote internal economic development in China and create opportunities for American businesspeople and farmers, he said.

Clinton has been hammering away at the same argument on a nearly daily basis, in public and in private meetings with House members.

Rep. David E. Bonior of Michigan, the second-ranking House Democrat and a leading opponent of the bill, dismissed Greenspan’s statement, saying that it would influence few if any undecided members.

Bonior has put forth his own economic argument: that the United States could lose hundreds of thousands of jobs to China in the next decade and that expanding trade with China would only lead to a growth in trade deficits as the Asian nation builds its manufacturing capacity.

“I am confident that we have as good a chance to win next week as the other side does,” Bonior said. “The vote now is very, very close.”

He refused to disclose his vote count, beyond saying that he expects at least 140 of 211 Democrats to be on his side.

Among proponents, Rep. John Linder (R-Ga.) said that, as the vote nears, “people are finding reasons to say yes. It’s too big to fail.” Linder said that close to 160 of the 222 Republicans could support the bill.

Some scenarios by those favoring the legislation have assumed about 150 Republican and 70 Democratic votes for the bill. That would yield just over the 218 votes needed if all 435 representatives vote. Two independents are expected to vote no.

Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas) cautioned that Republicans who favor the trade bill are still well short of the margin they need. But, he said, “momentum is moving in favor of passage.”

Dreier, chairman of the House Rules Committee, will be a key player when the bill reaches the floor. His committee is expected Tuesday or Wednesday to craft a procedure for voting on the trade bill that could prove critical for the final result. That is because the trade bill does not yet include all elements of a bipartisan compromise that was negotiated to lure swing votes--including a provision to create a commission to monitor human rights conditions in China and steps to beef up enforcement of China’s trade commitments.

If the compromise elements are not included in the final trade bill the House produces, that could leave them vulnerable to rejection in the Senate. Rep. Sander M. Levin (D-Mich.), a chief architect of the compromise, said flatly Thursday that their inclusion is “essential.”

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Times staff writer Janet Hook contributed to this story.