Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer and his Republican colleague Lindsey Graham said that they would visit China before a floor vote on the bill, which would slap a 27.5-percent tariff on Chinese imports.

They will lead a delegation leaving March 19 for China and will meet with high-level government, economic, business, and security officials in the three major cities, according to a statement from the two lawmakers.

"We are going to China next week because this is a critical time for global trade and our relationship with the world's most populous and fastest growing country," said Schumer.

"Today, we have the largest trade deficit in history with China. If China is to be a player in the world economy, they must play by the rules every other country has to play by ... We hope we are given some reason to be hopeful that China will revalue its currency and play by the rules while we are there."

Washington is facing growing complaints over the bulging US trade deficit with China, which hit 201.6 billion dollars for 2005, up 24.5 percent for the year.

Some critics and lawmakers argue that China benefits from an artificially low currency and various subsidies, offers few trade opportunities for US firms and does little to crack down on piracy of US patents and copyrights.

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