Bush urges approval of LatAm trade deals

President George W. Bush on Friday appealed for Congress to approve trade agreements with Peru, Panama and Colombia, warning that rejection of the deals would damage US interests in Latin America.
The president said there were "troubling signs" that protectionist sentiment was gaining strength because of fears that free trade was hurting US workers.
The comments, in a speech in Miami, highlighted White House concern about the threat posed to its trade agenda amid mounting political debate over the issue on Capitol Hill and on the presidential campaign trail.
The three trade deals with Latin American countries, and a fourth with South Korea, are threatened by opposition from many Democrats, who blame free trade for the heavy loss of US manufacturing jobs over recent years.
Mr Bush insisted the agreements, which are all awaiting Congressional approval, would benefit the US economy by increasing exports.
He said they were also crucial to promoting democracy and economic development, countering the "false populism" of some Latin American leaders - a veiled reference to Venezuela's Hugo Chávez and Bolivia's Evo Morales.
"As Congress debates, people across the hemisphere are watching to see if America will uphold its commitment to free and fair trade," said Mr Bush.
The remarks followed similar comments by Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, this week, demonstrating the depth of concern within the administration about the issue.
The deal with Colombia is considered to be in greatest jeopardy, in part because of Democratic concerns about the human rights record of Alvaro Uribe's government.
Critics have accused Mr Uribe, a staunch US ally, of not doing enough to prosecute dozens of lawmakers accused of colluding with rightwing paramilitary groups.
Mr Bush acknowledged that Colombia's record was "not perfect" but said the country was "clearly headed in the right direction".
"If Congress were to reject this committed ally, we would damage America's credibility in the region and make other countries less willing to co-operate in the future," he said.
Mr Bush said he understood the "painful" adjustment suffered by workers whose industries had been hurt by globalisation and pledged federal support for retraining schemes.
However, he insisted that the benefits brought by free trade outweighed the costs.
"The overwhelming majority of manufacturing jobs have been lost not because of trade, but because of productivity growth - because of improvements in technology," said Tony Fratto, White House spokesman.
Hillary Clinton, front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, this week said she would review trade agreements every five years if elected president.
The pledge highlighted the shift by Democrats away from the pro-trade policies advocated by former President Bill Clinton during the 1990s.
The leading Republican presidential candidates have so far remained faithful to the free trade agenda ahead of next year's election.
But some second-tier Republican White House hopefuls have adopted a more sceptical attitude towards trade - particularly with China.
credited by: ft.com