Bush pushes for three trade pacts
Speaking at a helicopter maker in Torrance, the president urges passage of agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. They would create jobs in the U.S., he says.
Declaring that "free trade means good-paying jobs for Americans," President Bush today used the backdrop of the nation's largest helicopter manufacturer to pressure Congress to pass three trade pacts that are among the top priorities of his final-year agenda.
Singling out a proposed trade agreement with Colombia, the president said that its passage would mean jobs for Americans and support an ally battling drug crime and political insurrection.
Bush made his comments at Robinson Helicopter Co. in Torrance, a company that is thriving on the strength of its international business. Frank Robinson, who started the firm in 1973, said that it was selling 70% of its production overseas.
But Robinson has not been shy about pointing out the benefit his company has found in the cheap dollar -- a reality Bush ignored as he and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger toured the spotless plant, as well as when he spoke to assembled workers.
The stop was the first on a three-day cross-country tour devoted to promoting the final-year agenda that the president outlined for his administration in his State of the Union address Monday. He coupled that sales pitch with events to raise money for Republicans seeking to build on his policies in the years beyond.
At a luncheon at the Bel-Air home of venture capitalist Elliott Broidy and an early dinner in Hillsborough on the San Francisco peninsula, Bush expected to raise more than $3.2 million for the Republican National Committee, a party official said. Bush also planned fundraising stops Thursday and Friday in Nevada, Colorado and Missouri.
He will speak on his anti-terrorism efforts before a Nevada policy research group in Las Vegas, and on the economy at the headquarters of the Hallmark greeting card company in Kansas City.
With a collection of orange, red, yellow, gold and metallic blue two- and four-seat helicopters arrayed nearby, each a shiny symbol of the company's sales growth, the president could hardly have found a better example of the impact that trade can have on a company as he promoted the pacts, stalled in Congress, with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. Robinson produces more helicopters than the better known manufacturers, Sikorsky and Bell, combined, and has service centers in 50 countries, including China and Russia.
