Barrasso Leads Bill to End China’s Unfair Advantage

U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) was joined by U.S. Senators Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) in introducing legislation S.5037, the Ending China’s Unfair Advantage Act, which would attempt to end American taxpayer handouts to China.

(courtesy)

The Ending China’s Unfair Advantage Act prohibits U.S. funding from going to the Montreal Protocol—a United Nations treaty—until China is no longer treated as a “developing country.”

China is currently defined as a developing nation under the Montreal Protocol. This allows China to deploy a different set of rules in order to access funding–including American taxpayer dollars –from the multilateral fund.

“China is the second largest economy in the world – a far cry from a developing country. There is no reason why China should get to play by a different set of rules, let alone get a handout paid for by American taxpayers,” Barrasso says. “The United States Senate recently voted unanimously in agreement that China should not be defined as a developing country. Our bill forces the United Nations to do the right thing and end this unfair advantage for China.”

Background:

• Under the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, developing countries are eligible for financial assistance through a special multilateral fund. The U.S. is the largest contributor to the fund, giving almost $1 billion.

• China has received nearly $1.4 billion from this multilateral fund over the years, due to their being defined as a developing country under the Montreal Protocol.

• The US is required to phase down production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, by 85 percent by 2036 and China has until 2045 to reduce HFC use by 80 percent. China is given an extra decade, under the Kigali Amendment, to produce HFCs. It is also allowed an extra 5 percent in HFC production and consumption.

• Earlier this month, Senator Barrasso introduced an amendment that would have conditioned Senate approval of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on the removal of China being defined as a developing country.

• On September 21, 2022, the Senate passed Senator Sullivan’s amendment by a vote of 96-0. It declared that China is not a developing country and the United Nations and other intergovernmental organizations should not treat China as such. It also conditioned the Senate’s ratification on the Administration submitting a proposal to remove China as a developing country before the next meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol.