March 4, 2000

Pres Clinton will send Congress within days bill to permanently normalize trade relations with Beijing, amid signs that support for important trade accord is slipping away; accelerated timetable answers call from pro-trade members of Congress who have urged administration to push for early vote because of mounting evidence that measure will be even tougher sell as election-year politics intensify; opposition of organized labor, which has made defeating bill top priority, noted; even pro-trade Republican leaders report trouble rallying support among members; China's renewed threats to use force against Taiwan and administration's own report on China's deteriorating human rights situation have given fresh impetus to right-wing opponents of measure, as well as to those on left (M)

Erick Barkley is reinstated by National Collegiate Athletic Association after serving one-game suspension for accepting tuition aid from Riverside Church at attend Maine prep school (M)

Atlanta Hawks beat New York Knicks, 83-70; photo (M)

Golf tournaments involving Tiger Woods have been ratings bonanzas for television networks that broadcast them; have drawn fans from across entire sports spectrum, as well as those who might not watch sports on Saturday or Sunday afternoons; Woods's emergence as central personality of professional golf is near guarantee of higher viewership than usual; photos; chart (M)

United States International Trade Commission refuses to levy punitive import duties on variety of steel products from Japan and five other countries; ruling is stinging disappointment for United States steel producers and workers; Commerce Dept had planned to impose duties on hundreds of millions of dollars worth of imported cold-rolled steel, used in wide spectrum of products; but commission decided, on vote of 5 to 1, that imports from Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Russia, South Africa and Thailand are not threat to US steel industry; ruling breaks string of recent cases in which trade agency sided with domestic companies and workers in roughly similar circumstances; ruling can be appealed in federal court (M)