I mostly agree, but China already had received MFN status on a provisional basis in 1980 and was until ~1994 a net importer of American goods. The move towards

I mostly agree, but China already had received MFN status on a provisional basis in 1980 and was until ~1994 a net importer of American goods. The move towards adding the to the WTO was at the time considered the least bad option for how to proceed. No one anticipated Xi in 1990, but everyone knew and understood Putin by the time Nord Stream I was completed.