When the United States was first sold on the Chinese PNTR (Permanent Normal Trading Relations), it was sold on the idea that opening China up to international commerce was a one-way street. Manufacturing & Technology News highlighted just a portion of the many broken promises that came from the Chinese PNTR, and the eventual inclusion of China within the WTO, in a June 15 piece.

American workers had nothing to fear from outsourcing because they were more productive and competitive than Chinese workers. The only thing we had to do was help China gain access to the World Trade Organization, and sit back as the bonus checks rolled in. China would buy more American goods; our “alarming trade deficit” from 1990-1999 would be erased.

The world’s largest potential consumer market (China) would be the crown jewel for American exports and production. More importantly, all of those nasty import blockades and tariffs would be done away with, and the world’s sole superpower could begin to rebuild relations with the world’s most populous nation.

Unfortunately, none of the aforementioned misconceptions have come to pass. In fact, we have seen the exact opposite in nearly every case. Our trade deficit with China has exploded from its levels during the previous decade. Millions of jobs have been sent overseas. Entire industries are dependent on Chinese labor. And the “one-way street,” envisioned by economic advisors from both the Clinton and Bush administrations, seems to be running in the wrong direction.

From 1990-1999 the United States had accumulated an alarming trade deficit with China. Despite the fact that our country was industrialized and developed and theirs was still fighting to break through, we had built up a $342 billion deficit in ten years. It grew from $10.431 billion in 1990 to a staggering $68.677 billion in 1999.

If you listened to the key advisors for both presidents Clinton and Bush you would have thought that making China a “free trader” was the only way to stop this growth. However, adding China to the international commercial market made the problem even worse.

When China joined the WTO, when it signed on for the PNTR with the United States, it did so under the assumption that it would drop its blockades and barriers. China did remove its tariffs, but it simply replaced them with a value-added tax (VAT). It simply maintained its illegal subsidies and import blockades by claiming dependent status as a developing nation within the World Trade Organization. China claims that its economy is not “developed,” and as such it is allowed to do the same things that the Maldives and East Timor do to protect their fledgling industries. When the international community calls China’s bluff, it simply ignores law and consensus and does whatever it wants anyway.

In the decade before the China PNTR we had a $342 billion deficit with them. In the decade since (2000-2009), that deficit has grown to a staggering $1.745 trillion. Our trade deficit with China is now five times greater than it was before we signed the agreement that was supposed to erase it completely.

Our deficits on oil and China alone account for nearly 90 percent of the U.S. trade deficit. The rest is taken up by huge deficits with Japan, Mexico, and Canada. All of these deficits have grown since the U.S. joined into the agreements that were supposed to alleviate them.

Now, the White House is pursuing even more free trade agreements with even more nations. This time, they assure us, there will be no more adverse side effects and unintended consequences. Perhaps, instead of chasing after new deals to make, the government should focus on fixing the mountain of backlogged problems that arose from the deals already on the books.

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