[NYTr] Bush Regime Pushes Congress to Approve 3 Free Trade Deals

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Reuters via The New York Times - Oct 2, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-usa-trade-latam.html


U.S. Official Says Trade Deals Vital to Latam Ties

WASHINGTON - Congress risks souring U.S. ties with Latin America if it
defeats three free trade agreements now awaiting lawmakers' approval, a
senior Bush administration official said on Tuesday.

"It would be a disaster for the United States in the region, in the
hemisphere to have any of these agreements rejected or refused to be
considered by the Congress," Deputy U.S. Trade Representative John
Veroneau said in a panel on trade with several Latin American countries.

"That's a story that would have perhaps a relatively short shelf life
in Washington, but it would have tremendous impact in the
relationships" with Latin America, he added.

Veroneau believes Congress will ultimately approve the three bilateral
agreements with Peru, Panama and Colombia, which would lower tariffs
and set new rules for trade. But he said the threat of a defeat on
Capitol Hill, and the "tremendous debacle" he believes would follow, is
real.

So far, the Bush administration has formally submitted only one of the
deals, that with Peru, which has garnered broad support across party
lines -- unlike the remaining pair.

Concerns have erupted in recent weeks about the deal with Panama, a
longtime U.S. ally and home to the vital Panama Canal. Pedro Miguel
Gonzalez, who is wanted in the United States on charges he killed a
U.S. military man, has been elected head of Panama's National
Assembly, .

Opposition to the Colombia pact is more withering, with many lawmakers
vowing to vote no until the government of President Alvaro Uribe can
prove it is doing more to combat violence against union workers and
leaders.

Carolina Barco, Bogota's ambassador to the United States, told the same
panel that her country had made progress against endemic violence in
the past five years, largely with the help of a major U.S.-backed
anti-drug program.

For supporters, the agreements hold promise not only in opening new
export opportunities -- both Peru and Colombia now get one-way trade
preferences -- but as a bulwark against threats seen in the growing
influence of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and other leftists in the
region.

"Free trade is one of the most efficient vaccine against populism,"
said Federico Humbert, Panama's ambassador to the United States.