The designation was changed from most favored nation (MFN) to normal trade relations by Section 5003 of the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998.
[3] In 1951, the U.S. Congress directed President Harry Truman to revoke MFN status to the Soviet Union and other Communist countries except for Yugoslavia.
For many years, People's Republic of China (PRC) was the most important country in this group which required an annual waiver to maintain free trade status.
[4] By Act of Congress, the United States granted permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status to Czechoslovakia (later the Czech Republic and Slovakia), Hungary, and Romania after the fall of the communist governments in those countries.
The United States granted PNTR to Albania, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania before their countries acceded to the WTO.
[7] This happened as part of a coordinated action of the European Union and G7 countries to collectively revoke any MFN status from Russia in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The commission was to monitor acts of China which reflect compliance or violation, compile lists of persons believed to be imprisoned, detained, or tortured due to pursuit of their human rights, monitor the development of the rule of law in China, and encourage the development of programs and activities of the U.S. government and private organizations with a goal of increasing the interchange of people and ideas.
[10] The International Trade Commission's report was the determination of China's impacts on United States market, and how those certain disruptions can be remedied or expanded.
Members of the senate wanted to add in amendments on treating their workers even better than stated in previous legislation, and to make the punishment for breaking the rules greater.
The strongest attempt was in 2005 when House Representative Bernie Sanders and 61 co-sponsors introduced a legislation that would repeal the Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China.
Rep. Sanders said to the House, "anyone who takes an objective look at our trade policy with China must conclude that is an absolute failure and needs to be fundamentally overhauled".
The Representative cited statistics, including the increase in the trade deficit and the number of American jobs lost to overseas competitors.
One point that Sanders did not make due to time constraints and the legislation being passed so quickly was that nothing in the way China treats its workers has changed.
[15][16] The same month, the United States–China Economic and Security Review Commission unanimously recommended revocation of China's PNTR status.