The White House Push for Trade Deals

As Capitol Hill edges closer to recess, the Bush administration has stepped up efforts to get congressional approval for pending bilateral free-trade agreements with Peru, Colombia, and Panama. In a recent speech at the Organization of American States, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said approving the deal would help Washington “create an unbroken chain of trading partners from Tierra del Fuego to the Arctic Circle.” During a press conference, Rice emphasized getting the deals passed in U.S. Congress by addressing legislators concerns about the agreements “one person at a time.”  

As the Miami Herald notes, the Bush Administration has used “field-trip diplomacy” to promote free trade, particularly in the case of the deal with Bogotá. U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez—who led a group of congressmen to Panama, Peru, and Colombia in September—will escort another delegation to Bogotá for an October trip to highlight the country’s improved economic and security situation. Other senior White House officials with possible trips to Colombia on their agenda in the coming months include Secretary Rice, U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

But even as passage of the Peru agreement appears probable, pacts with Colombia and Panama are unlikely to see action before Congress recesses. Some experts say recent paramilitary scandals serve as an obstacle to approval of the Colombia deal, and Capitol Hill may also balk at passage of the Panama pact following that country’s assembly election of a politician wanted for the 1992 killing of an American soldier.

Yet there has also been rising support from senior policymakers for the trade deals, with a bipartisan group of former ambassadors to Peru, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means, and over 40 Democratic officials and policymakers submitting letters in support of the agreements. In a new issue of Viewpoints Americas COA’s Director of Government Relations Brian Wanko outlines how Congress can “usher in a secure and prosperous future” in Latin America through passage of the deals. A new AS/COA hemispheric update outlines congressional action on the agreements. In a recent event hosted by AS/COA, President Michelle Bachelet of Chile discussed her efforts to reach out to U.S. Congress in support of the free-trade agreements.