On December 11, 2001, China became the one hundred and forty-third member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The members of the WTO, who generate more than 97 percent of international trade, are obligated to operate a nondiscriminatory trading system that requires that participating nations trade with one another. China’s admittance forced the United States, a long-standing member of the WTO, to grant it permanent normal trade relations (NTR) status. Prior to that, the United States reviewed and debated China’s status annually because of the Asian behemoth’s spotty record on human rights, including its persecution of  religious groups and restrictive population control policies. The United States had long reserved the right to punish China for human rights abuses by refusing to trade with it, but China’s admittance to the WTO forced America...