Familiar Concerns Greet New Trade Pact

The administration must now win the assent of governments in Peru and Panama for the new provisions before the pacts involving those countries can be submitted to Congress. Sean Spicer, a spokesman for Schwab, expressed confidence the issue could be resolved. He noted that Peru's president, Alan Garcia, met with Schwab in Washington during negotiations with the Democrats.

"This isn't catching anyone by surprise," Spicer said.

The South Korea deal will have to be renegotiated more substantially to address American complaints that it does not sufficiently open that country as a market for U.S. cars and meat.

The most difficult deal may be Colombia. Though President Álvaro Uribe's center-right government is the Bush administration's closest ally in Latin America, it has been tarnished by a scandal that revealed ties between right-wing death squad commanders and Colombian congressmen. Last year, 72 union members were murdered in Colombia.

Colombian government officials have for weeks privately expressed doubts that a free- trade agreement was possible. But with Thursday's deal, Colombia's ambassador in Washington, Carolina Barco, said a path had opened.

"Yesterday's accord between the Republicans and Democrats was very important so that there can be a green light to move on the treaties," Barco told Bogota's La W Radio.

Correspondent Juan Forero in Bogota contributed to this report.