or President Clinton, it's deja vu all over again. Only this time, the stakes are higher.
In 1993, Clinton lobbied Congress, successfully, to pass the North American Free Trade Agreement, to the dismay of many of his fellow Democrats and one of their key allies, organized labor.
Some labor-friendly Democrats agonized over the divide between Clinton and organized labor on the issue, but finally supported the NAFTA bill. The treaty was approved over the protests of labor and Democrats who believed it would result in jobs moving from the American work force to Mexico.
While the debate is ongoing as to what damage, if any, NAFTA did to American jobs, Clinton is now campaigning heavily for passage of a bill that would give China permanent normal trade relations, formerly called most-favored-nation status.
A key portion of that NTR bill, which has human rights and labor activists up in arms, would scrap Congress's annual review of China's trade and human rights policies.
Clinton and key members of Congress support an end to this annual review even though the US State Department reported in 1999 that China's ''poor human rights record deteriorated markedly throughout the year, as the government intensified efforts to suppress dissent.''
While polls suggest that a majority of Republicans oppose granting China permanent trade status, the Senate, which took up the bill last week, is expected to approve it.The House, however, is bitterly divided over the legislation. Clinton and other backers of the bill hope that passage in the Senate will help persuade House members to approve it.
Yet opponents of the bill appear to have legitimate arguments against granting China permanent trade status while removing the annual review of the country's human rights and trade, both of which have been called ''abysmal'' by organized labor and rights activists.
For example, Amnesty International reported that China executed 1,769 people in 1998, more than the rest of the world combined. Among those put to death were people convicted of tax fraud, smuggling, and credit card theft. Then there is China's record of tortures.
Amnesty's report said that 126 people were killed by police in China during interrogations in 1995, and 115 in 1994. And, as reported in The Washington Post, Amnesty ''catalogued a series of violent crimes committed by police against suspects. Suspects have been tortured to death with electric cattle prods, placed on burning stoves, drowned in buckets, hanged and have died from a heart attack after being beaten by police.''
There are also reports of China making products in forced labor camps, with workers earning 13 to 35 cents an hour, and having these products sold in US stores.
As for trade agreements with China, the United States Trade Representative and the US State Department reported that over the past 10 years, China has violated every trade agreement, four since 1992, it has signed with the United States.
With all these human rights and trade violations, rights activists raise a legitimate issue as to why Clinton, members of Congress, and others who are strong advocates of human rights support giving China permanent trade status while ending the annual congressional review.
Clinton and other supporters of the bill argue that granting China permanent trade status would eliminate barriers to US products, expand US exports, and create good jobs in the United States. Not supporting this bill would hurt US businesses, they say. And, they further argue, the best way to improve human rights in China is to give China this permanent trade status and bring it into the World Trade Organization where the country would be forced to play by the rules.
Of course, China has a strong record of not playing by the rules when it comes to human rights and trade, and there is strong evidence that it is not likely to change suddenly if it is given permanent trade status and brought into the WTO.
Amnesty International and other human rights groups, as well as the AFL-CIO and other labor groups, are right to point to China's human-rights and trade violations as sufficient reason not to give permanent trade status without China improving its very poor record on these issues.
But Democrats and organized labor also know how important it is to elect the expected Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Al Gore, in November. Both Gore and the expected GOP nominee, George W. Bush, support permanent trade status for China and elimination of the annual congressional review.
If opponents defeat the bill this year, it would be a serious blow to Clinton and his legacy in the last year of his administration. And Gore's support of the bill could impact negatively on his campaign, particularly among Democrats and labor groups who are on the opposite side of the issue.
But whatever happens, Democrats and organized labor know that if many of them stay home in protest of Gore's stance, they are only giving Bush a better chance of winning.
And they know if Bush wins, the Democrats and labor will be in a lot more trouble with him as president than they would be with China's lousy record on human rights and free trade agreements.
Robert A. Jordan is a Globe columnist.
