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A Shift in Bush's Trade Politics
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice indicated a new readiness to find common ground with Congress to pass bilateral deals with Peru, Panama, and Colombia.
(By Alex Wong -- Getty Images)
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The trade deal with Panama is on stronger footing, after the Panamanian government made concessions on environmental and labor issues to meet congressional demands. But a new hiccup has arisen in that the new leader of the country's legislature, Pedro Miguel Gonz¿lez, is wanted in the United States on charges of killing an American soldier in 1992, though he was acquitted of the killing in Panama. As long as he is in a leading government post, Congress would be reluctant to pass a trade deal.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]"If the Panamanians can jettison their National Assembly leader, that solves it," said Gary C. Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
The Peruvian trade agreement is likely to be passed before the end of the year, Levin said.
South Korea's more powerful economy means that its trade agreement would have greater economic consequences for the United States. It faces the strongest objections in Congress, in part because it would eliminate tariffs first on Korean cars and eventually on trucks, creating new competition for troubled automakers.
There has already been some good news for advocates of the trade deals this week; Costa Ricans, in a referendum, approved their deal to have freer trade with the United States, part of the Central American Free Trade Act. The United States and five other signatories had already ratified it.
Still, Rice acknowledged yesterday Americans' insecurities about trade.
"There is a sense that America feels fearful of its ability to compete, and I think that's linked to a whole host of issues about change," she said. "That then does create an impulse to protect, and we know from any number of historical experiences that that impulse to protect always leads to bad outcomes."
