By Doug Palmer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration believes congressional Democrats will agree to vote on a free trade pact with Colombia, despite an unfriendly U.S. political climate for trade, a top U.S. official said on Tuesday.
"Yes, I believe we can work together to give an ally the benefit of a vote," U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez told the Reuters Latin American Investment Summit. "We hope that very soon we will have a bipartisan consensus that now is the time to take it up."
The Bush administration signed the free trade agreement with Colombia in November 2006, shortly after the Democrats won elections giving them control of Congress.
Since then, the White House has struggled to persuade House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to schedule a vote on pact, which U.S. labor groups strongly oppose on the grounds that Colombia has not done enough to stop murders of trade unionists.
With only about 10 months left in office, President George W. Bush has signaled his intention to submit the agreement to Congress soon for a vote sometime this year. Bush argues the agreement warrants approval on trade as well as national security grounds since Colombia is a strong ally in an otherwise volatile region of Latin America.
The Bush administration believes it can round up enough Democratic votes to approve the agreement, even though Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both say they can not support it at this time.
Pelosi has said she saw no hope for the Colombia deal until the White House and Congress agree on an expanded program to help U.S. workers who have lost their jobs because of import competition or factories moving overseas.
"We recognize that there is room for strengthening (trade adjustment assistance). We hope to work together with leadership to do that ... We believe the environment is conducive" to reach a bipartisan deal, Gutierrez said.
NAFTA UNDER FIRE
White House efforts to win approval of the Colombia deal come as both Clinton and Obama are threatening to withdraw the United States from the 14-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement unless Canada and Mexico agree to add stronger labor and environmental provisions to the pact.
Gutierrez called NAFTA "an overwhelming success" that has helped boost economic growth as U.S. trade with both countries has grown to more than $900 billion annually.
Bush will meet with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon later this month in New Orleans. Gutierrez said he did not know if the leaders would issue a joint statement in defense of NAFTA, but said there were no plans for them to discuss reopening it.
Bush took office in January 2001 with hopes of expanding NAFTA into the Free Trade Area of the Americas, which would cover every country in the Western Hemisphere except Cuba.
Although that effort failed, "I believe it's a matter of time before everyone in the hemisphere realizes this is a competitive necessity," Gutierrez said. "It is a good idea today ... and it will be a good idea in five years."
DIFFICULT DECISIONS NEEDED FOR DOHA Continued...
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