Central American Free Trade Agreement

President Bush will pursue his top trade initiative today as he welcomes six Latin American leaders to the White House, but the trade agreement Bush seeks faces serious trouble in Congress and could be defeated by his fellow Republicans. With showdown votes just weeks away, the Central American Free Trade Agreement still lacks majority support in the Senate and the House, with a near-solid phalanx of Democrats lined up in opposition and key Republicans in open revolt.

The Bush administration welcomed Costa Rica's narrow approval of a free-trade agreement with the U.S. after a national debate that split the tiny Central American democracy. Costa Rican voters backed the U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA, by the slim ratio of 51.58% in favor to 48.42% against -- in an echo of the bitter debate in the U.S. Congress over CAFTA two years ago.

Two major groups representing the textile industry, which is highly sensitive to foreign competition, came out on opposing sides in the debate over a free-trade agreement with six Central American and Caribbean countries. The National Council of Textile Organizations announced its support for the Central American Free Trade Agreement, a decision that was hailed by the Bush administration.

san jose, costa rica -- About 100,000 Costa Ricans, some dressed as skeletons and holding banners, protested Sunday against a U.S. trade pact they said would flood the country with cheap farm goods and cause big job losses. Chanting "No to the free-trade pact!" and "Costa Rica is not for sale!" protesters including farmers and housewives filled one of San Jose's main boulevards to demonstrate against the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States.

The Bush administration welcomed Costa Rica's narrow approval of a free-trade agreement with the U.S. after a national debate that split the tiny Central American democracy. Costa Rican voters backed the U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA, by the slim ratio of 51.58% in favor to 48.42% against -- in an echo of the bitter debate in the U.S. Congress over CAFTA two years ago.

The U.S. and the six other nations in the Central American Free Trade Agreement agreed to renegotiate a key clothing provision in the accord to secure the support of Republicans representing textile districts. The U.S. trade representative's office, which had refused to amend the U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement, received a letter from the ambassadors of the six CAFTA nations agreeing to prohibit the use of non-U.S.

The White House sent Congress legislation late Thursday in an effort to secure passage of a controversial Central American trade agreement as Bush administration officials offered new concessions to the sugar industry to win support. Congressional committees approved a mock version of the legislation last week in a tentative show of support. However, lawmakers representing sugar states are wary of the agreement. The House and Senate must vote within 90 legislative days of receiving the measure.

san jose, costa rica -- About 100,000 Costa Ricans, some dressed as skeletons and holding banners, protested Sunday against a U.S. trade pact they said would flood the country with cheap farm goods and cause big job losses. Chanting "No to the free-trade pact!" and "Costa Rica is not for sale!" protesters including farmers and housewives filled one of San Jose's main boulevards to demonstrate against the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States.

President Bush traveled to the heart of the nation's battered textile belt Friday to try to rescue a Central American trade pact that has become a test of his ability to keep a 40-year streak of congressional trade deal ratifications intact. Addressing an audience of mill workers and others, Bush said the Central American Free Trade Agreement would not endanger their jobs but rather would make them more secure by removing barriers to exports of the yarn and fabric the workers produced.

A coalition of 23 manufacturing associations announced their opposition Tuesday to the Central American Free Trade Agreement amid a growing preoccupation with competition from China. Three business executives and representatives from trade associations representing 18,000 companies said at a news conference on Capitol Hill that their campaign against CAFTA reflected a broader disenchantment with trends in U.S. trade.

With just over two weeks to go before Costa Ricans head to the polls to vote on a free-trade agreement with the United States and six other countries, Alfredo Volio should be a happy man. As head of the "yes" campaign championing the pact, known as CAFTA, he has watched public support climb in recent months.

A free-trade pact once thought to be slam-dunk is now up for grabs in Costa Rica, where President Oscar Arias on Friday announced that his government would hold a national referendum on the controversial measure. Arias, a supporter of the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement, known as DR-CAFTA, called the pending vote "a triumph" for democratic procedure that would let Costa Ricans determine whether to participate in the pact, to which the U.S. is a party.

The top two candidates in Costa Rica's presidential election were deadlocked Monday in a race some say has become a referendum on a controversial free trade pact with the United States. Sunday's contest was supposed to have been a coronation for former President Oscar Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who vowed to seek quick approval for the trade agreement with the U.S. and other Central American countries.

Growing anti-trade sentiment in several Central American countries has held up a trade agreement with the United States that had been slated to launch Jan. 1. Under the Central American Free Trade Agreement, the U.S. agreed to open its markets further to key Central American products, such as sugar and apparel and textiles, while those countries promised to lower barriers to U.S. farm goods, high-tech products and services.

No sooner had Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) cast his vote in favor of the Central American Free Trade Agreement than anti-CAFTA activists started plotting their revenge. Labor unions began calling members in Cuellar's southwest Texas district and planning a protest outside his San Antonio office. Opponents of the pact finalized plans to launch a door-to-door, bilingual canvassing effort sometime around Labor Day.

President Bush signed a free trade agreement with Central American countries Tuesday, celebrating a victory in Congress so narrow and grueling that it cast doubt on the future of other trade-opening pacts the administration is negotiating. "Strengthening our economic ties with our democratic neighbors is vital to America's economic and national security interests," Bush said at an East Room ceremony in the White House.

The Labor Department worked for more than a year to maintain secrecy for studies that were critical of working conditions in Central America, the region the Bush administration wants in a new trade pact. The contractor hired by the department in 2002 to conduct the studies has become a major opponent of the administration's proposed Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA.

A major free trade agreement with Central American nations moved forward in the Senate on Tuesday, although senators put off for another day how to deal with the sugar industry opposition that was the biggest obstacle to passage. The Senate Finance Committee accepted one change in conjunction with the Central American Free Trade Agreement, known as CAFTA, extending to service workers a federal program to assist those displaced by trade competition.

Rep. Robert B. Aderholt's cellphone rang Wednesday as the Alabama Republican was standing in the House gallery with some constituents. The caller was President Bush. Bush told Aderholt that he hoped the lawmaker would support the Central American Free Trade Agreement when it came up for a vote later in the day, emphasizing its importance to national security. Aderholt laid out some concerns about the accord.

Central American government and business leaders on Thursday hailed U.S. congressional passage of a regional free trade agreement as a boon to their consumers and modernization efforts. But the region's labor unions and some agricultural interests warned of job losses and other dire effects. The Central American Free Trade Agreement won't have much effect on the U.S. economy because U.S. trade with the region is relatively small.