Reuters | 12 Oct 2007
Bush tries to build support for Latam trade deals
By Caren Bohan
MIAMI (Reuters) — President George W. Bush urged Congress on Friday to approve free-trade agreements with Latin American countries "as soon as possible," saying failure to do so would diminish U.S. leadership in the hemisphere.
Approval of the trade deals would help U.S. exports and also "counter the false populism promoted by some nations in the hemisphere," Bush said, apparently referring to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez who has positioned himself as a counterweight to the United States in Latin America.
Bush is seeking ratification for trade pacts with Peru, Panama and Colombia from Democrats who captured Congress in last year’s elections and have shown some uneasiness about the president’s free-trade agenda.
"Collectively these three trade agreements have the potential to boost our economy and strengthen our allies and spread prosperity throughout our region," Bush told a conference on trade in the Americas.
"It’s in the interest of the United States that prosperity spread throughout Latin America and South America," he said. "I urge congressional leaders to pass these three Latin American agreements as soon as possible."
Although the deal with Peru appears likely to be approved soon, the two other agreements face significant obstacles.
U.S. labor groups fiercely oppose the agreement with Colombia, which they call the most dangerous country in the world for union workers.
They accuse the government of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe of failing to aggressively prosecute hundreds of cases of murdered trade unionists.
Some Democrats have said they would be reluctant to support the Colombia trade deal without more evidence of an effort to curb violence. Many are also alarmed by alleged ties between Uribe’s party and drug-running militias formed in the 1980s to help beat back leftist rebels.
STRATEGIC, ECONOMIC BENEFITS CITED
Bush emphasized the strategic importance of U.S.-Colombian ties in the region and urged Congress not to give into "economic isolationism" by rejecting the pact.
Rep. Sander Levin, a Michigan Democrat who chairs a trade subcommittee in the House of Representatives, said Bush’s trade policies were responsible for much of "the growing antagonism to trade and globalization in our nation."
Levin did not respond directly to Bush’s call for action on the three Latam trade agreements. But in the case of Colombia, "where workers and their leaders were being killed with continued immunity," more progress is needed, he said.
Bush said Uribe had taken "courageous steps" to go after drug traffickers and rein in paramilitary groups and said violence has diminished in recent years.
"Colombia’s record is not perfect but the country is clearly headed in the right direction and is asking for our help," Bush said.
Prospects for the Panama pact were thrown into doubt after Panama’s National Assembly elected a lawmaker wanted in the United States on charges he killed a U.S. soldier in 1992 as its leader.
Bush said the Panama agreement would help U.S. growth by increasing access to Central America’s fastest growing economy.
Bush also wants Congress to sign off on a trade pact with South Korea but faces resistance from lawmakers like Levin and auto producers who complain it does not do enough to alleviate the huge automotive trade imbalance with that country.
Polls have shown increasing anxiety among Americans about free trade even among Republicans, who have tended to be more supportive of it. A Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll last week showed that by a margin of nearly 2 to 1, Republicans viewed free trade as bad for the economy.
(Additional reporting by Doug Palmer)