Bush wants free rein to negotiate trade pacts

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush said Monday he will ask Congress later this week to grant him "trade promotion authority" -- meaning lawmakers would vote on trade pacts without the option of amendments.

In other words, Bush is asking Congress to allow his administration to do the talking with potential trading partners, then cast straight yea or nay votes on pacts negotiated by the White House's trade experts.

"I am counting on the council's help to bring sanity to the U.S. Congress," a smiling Bush told the 31st Washington Conference of the Council of the Americas in Washington at midafternoon Monday.

The brief address was reminiscent of the stump speeches Bush has made around the country recently to elicit support for his tax and budget plans. Only this time he was courting the business leaders who comprise the council, which promotes hemispheric trade linked with social and economic improvements.

Formerly called fast-track authority, the trade powers sought by Bush have been enjoyed by previous administrations. The authority expired under President Clinton and has not been renewed for years.

Bush's request to act freely during trade negotiations will be one of several items on a list of "principles" the president plans to send to Congress later this week.

"My administration wants to work with Congress and to listen to what many of the members have to say," he said. "We are especially impressed by the fresh new thinking of many members on how to advance freedom and environmental protection in ways that open trade, rather than closing trade.

"One tool I must have is renewed U.S. trade promotion authority," he continued. "I urge the Congress, restore our nation's authority to negotiate trade agreements, and I will use that authority to build freedom in the world, progress in our hemisphere, and enduring prosperity in the United States."

Earlier in the day, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer promised Bush would employ a "new language" to frame the burgeoning debate on open trade, which has divided both major political parties in recent years.

Open trade as a general concept has been decried by legions of protesters at a number of gatherings of world leaders and financiers in recent months -- most notably at last month's Summit of the Americas in Quebec, Canada, which Bush attended.

Demonstrators clashed with police for two straight days just outside the conference center. Their central argument is that free trade would enhance the power of large multinational corporations.

"Together, we made good progress at that summit," Bush said, describing that work as "the beginnings of a really strong and fruitful relationship all throughout the hemisphere."

But some members of Congress who are suspicious of free trade stand to threaten the sort of prosperity he seeks to promote, Bush said. The lawmakers and the activists, he implied, operate behind a flawed line of reasoning.

"In our failure to make a case for open trade, it has caused a new kind of protectionism to appear in this country," he said.

"It talks of workers, while it opposes a major source of new jobs. It talks of the environment while opposing the wealth-creating policies that will pay for clean air and water in developing nations. It talks of the disadvantaged, even as it offers ideas that would keep many of the poor in poverty.

"Open trade is not just an economic opportunity," he said. "It is a moral imperative. Open trade creates jobs for the unemployed."

Besides asking for trade promotion authority, Bush would commit the United States to negotiate bilateral trade agreements with Jordan and Singapore.

He is negotiating a similar agreement with Chile, even as he seeks broad powers to negotiate the Free Trade Area of the Americas -- to which the 34 democracies of the hemisphere committed themselves at the recent Summit of the Americas.

Chile, Bush said Monday, provides a valuable example for why the administration must stay atop trade developments.

"The inactivity of the American government has had real costs for the American people," he said. "The United States has few better friends than the Republic of Chile, but the fact is, Canadian goods sold in Chile pay a lower tariff than American goods, because the U.S. has left its trade talks with Chile unfinished.

"Free trade talks are being negotiated all over the world, and we are not a party to them. This has got to change," he said.

CNN's Ian Christopher McCaleb and John King contributed to this report.

Bush pledges to improve ties with Mexico
May 5, 2001

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