Helms Amendment to China Trade. Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) explained that his amendment "directs the President to certify that China has met a series of human rights conditions prior to granting PNTR to Communist China." The Helms amendment would prohibit the granting of "free trade" privileges to China under Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) until China has abolished the Laogai prison-labor system and released all religious prisoners and labor leaders. In essence, the Helms amendment affirms the self-evident truth that free trade with slaves is a contradiction, and that only when China is at least partly free should trade relations be normal.
The Senate rejected the Helms amendment to H.R. 4444 on September 12, 2000 by a vote of 32-63 (Roll Call 239). We have assigned pluses to the yeas.
