Closer Ties, Not Trade Bloc, Bush's Goal at Summit

Reuters 20apr01

WASHINGTON - President Bush heads to a hemispheric summit this weekend without a mandate to create a free trade area from Canada to Chile, but he will work on his goal of improving ties with U.S. neighbors.

At the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, Bush and leaders of the 33 other democratic nations in the hemisphere -- all the countries but Cuba -- will discuss issues ranging from democracy to free trade.

Although Bush, a staunch proponent of free trade, has vowed to push for completion of a Free Trade Area of the Americas by 2005 at the latest, he does not have congressional carte blanche to negotiate a deal.

But he will take the opportunity to fulfill a campaign promise that his primary foreign policy focus will fall close to home, officials said on Wednesday.

The Quebec meeting marks only the second time Bush has stepped off American soil since taking office on Jan. 20. His first foreign trip -- a day visit to Mexico -- was also meant to show the importance he places on the region.

Bush, who will have already met with seven of the region's leaders before the summit begins, will hold various meetings in Quebec to discuss ``deeper and closer engagement,'' a senior administration official said.

On Friday, Bush will meet Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien. He will hold separate talks with leaders grouped by regions: the five Andean nations plus Brazil and Panama, the 14 Caribbean nations and seven Central American countries.

LACKS NEGOTIATING AUTHORITY

Bush does not have trade promotion authority, previously known as ``fast track,'' which would allow him to negotiate trade deals not subject to change by Congress.

Bush's father, former President George Bush, had the authority -- which meant that Congress could only approve or reject any trade deals in their entirety -- but it expired in 1994. Former President Bill Clinton failed to persuade Congress to give the authority back to him, and Bush has not yet made any request.

Latin American experts said that Bush, who has focused heavily on domestic issues in his first months in office, has not had time to assemble a full trade team or figure out if Congress might be willing to approve trade promotion authority.

``While the president is, at one level, deeply committed to economic integration in the Americas, I don't think he's really thought through what that means,'' said Riordan Roett, director of the Western Hemisphere Program at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.

``From a Latin American point of view, the most disappointing issue is that neither Clinton nor Bush has fast track,'' he said.

Without that authority, some nations are wary of a long negotiating process if U.S. approval is not certain.

Bush said on Tuesday that his administration was committed to free trade and he would intensify his effort to get trade promotion authority after returning from Quebec.

Lawmakers disagree over key components found in many trade pacts. Most Democrats favor strong protection for workers and the environment in trade deals, while most Republicans argue those issues are better handled through other mechanisms.

DEMOCRACY PUSH AT SUMMIT

There will not be major movement on free trade at the summit, but Bush has several areas on which he wants to focus.

``In this week's Quebec Summit, our goal is simple yet profound,'' Bush said. ``The discussions we hold and the mandates we produce must help improve the lives of people throughout our hemisphere.''

Bush will support what a second senior administration official called an ``extraordinarily powerful statement'' on the defense of democracy at the summit and will call for a larger role for the Organization of American States.

The leaders will also agree to a ``plan of action'' in which they will commit themselves to improving education, fighting drug trafficking and combating AIDS.

``You're not going to see a lot of grandiose, highfalutin initiatives with billions of dollars behind it. Those kinds of things have so often failed to deliver,'' the official said. ''What we want to be able to show ... is this coming together of democracies can, in fact, make a real difference to real peoples' lives.''