Bush Prods Congress on Trade
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
MIAMI — Trying to jump-start his stalled trade agenda, President Bush pleaded with lawmakers today to pass free trade pacts with four nations, and warned against protectionism taking root in America.
In Miami, a city known as the “gateway to the Americas,” Mr. Bush urged Congress to approve free trade agreements with Peru, Panama, and Colombia in Latin America plus another with South Korea. The deals face uphill battles given five consecutive years of record American trade deficits that critics say played a major role in the loss of more than 3 million manufacturing jobs since Mr. Bush took office in 2001.
Mr. Bush said he was disturbed that trade agreements have been passing by only slim margins in Congress. He said he also was troubled that when discussing trade as he travels across the nation, there is a trend toward economic isolationism and talk that free trade is bad for American workers.
“One congressman offered his prediction if the agreements pass: U.S. college graduates will increasingly see a future in flipping hamburgers,” Mr. Bush said. “That’s the kind of rhetoric we’re dealing with.”
Mr. Bush said the agreements would level the playing field for businesses, workers, and farmers in America and lead to more jobs for Americans. He said they would ease poverty, strengthen forces of freedom and democracy in Latin America, and “counter the false populism” promoted by some nations — a veiled reference to Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Bolivia’s Evo Morales.
Democrats said their concerns about the deals include a need for more protections for civil, environmental, and worker rights in the beneficiary countries. And they said Mr. Bush has presided over a record on Latin America that has contributed to destabilization and a rise in anti-American sentiment.
“The president’s last-minute leadership on Latin America is another case of too little, too late,” a Florida Democratic Party spokesman, Alejandro Miyar, said. “As with everything this administration pushes, the plans are half baked.”
As he routinely does in Florida, Mr. Bush also called for a free and Democratic Cuba. That prompted a standing ovation from the crowd. One woman shouted, “Viva Bush!”
