Bush Asks for Fast-Track Authority On Trade, Avoiding Social Concerns

Michael Phillips / Wall Street Journal 11may01

WASHINGTON -- President Bush asked Congress for quick action on an array of international trade deals, but largely dodged the contentious question of whether trade pacts should include mandatory labor and environmental protections.

Despite mounting pressure from the right and the left, Mr. Bush avoided making a commitment on the social issues that plagued trade debates in the Clinton years. Instead, the president asked Congress for a free negotiating hand, promising only to take the labor and environmental considerations into account as he secures global and hemispheric trade pacts.

"We can no longer afford to sit still while our trading partners move ahead without us," Mr. Bush wrote Thursday to Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R., Iowa), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees trade treaties. He asked lawmakers to support U.S. trade pacts with Jordan, Vietnam, Laos, Chile and the Andean nations.

The agenda's long-awaited arrival on Capitol Hill immediately revealed the divisions that will make it tough for Mr. Bush to achieve his most cherished goal: winning fast-track negotiating authority that forces Congress to vote up or down on any deal he negotiates. Without such authority, which Congress allowed to expire under former President Clinton over unhappiness with the North American Free Trade Agreement, Mr. Bush may find some U.S. trading partners unwilling even to start negotiations.

Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, the senior Democrat on the Finance Committee, called the agenda "a step in the right direction," but said, "the devil is in the details."

Mr. Bush and his trade chief, Robert Zoellick, are walking a thin political line and keeping their options open, with congressional negotiations likely to heat up in coming months. The agenda lists incentives -- World Bank loans, for instance -- to encourage higher labor and environmental standards. But "it's too early to say" what penalties, if any, the administration might use on the recalcitrant, Mr. Zoellick said.

Labor unions and many Democrats worry that freer trade will encourage U.S. companies to move to countries with lower production costs.

"There's no consensus," said Bill Klinefelter, legislative director of the United Steel Workers of America. "In fact, the battle lines are firming up, if anything."

To its right, the administration faces business allies and conservative lawmakers who want commercial dealings insulated from labor-rights or environmental objectives. At a private meeting between Mr. Zoellick and Hill Republicans earlier this week, for example, Republican Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas said he was very concerned the president would include language on labor or the environment in a fast-track bill.