Politics & Economics: White House Fans Out for Trade Push, Aware of Skepticism
WASHINGTON -- As global trade talks teeter toward another collapse, the White House is mounting a major push for what remains of the Bush trade agenda: a handful of bilateral deals with Latin American countries.</br></br>This weekend, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez is scheduled to lead a delegation of U.S. lawmakers to Colombia, in an effort to dispel congressional concerns about the Andean nation's history of drug-related and political violence, which are among the stumbling blocks to approval of a U.S. trade deal with that country.</br></br>In a rare foray into trade policy, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is arguing the proposed Colombia deal, along with pending pacts with Peru and Panama, makes good business sense and is of "critical strategic value" in the Western Hemisphere.</br></br>President Bush himself is stepping into the fray. Tomorrow, he is expected to travel to Miami, where he is expected to press reluctant lawmakers to approve the Latin American trade deals and resist election-year pressures to turn away from free trade.</br></br>The push for action on the bilateral agreements comes as the Doha Round of global trade talks appear to be sinking deeper into deadlock. The effort reflects concern among senior Bush officials over the growing sentiment among Americans against expanded free trade and globalization.