Bush could force vote on trade pacts: Schwab

By Doug Palmer

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House could force Congress to vote on trade deals with Colombia, South Korea and Panama if congressional leaders try to stop them from coming up, U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said on Monday.

"That's always an option. It's clearly not the preferred option," Schwab told reporters in a conference call from Las Vegas, where she was attending the electronics industry's annual consumer goods show. "We would rather not be in a confrontational situation," Schwab said.

The Bush administration hopes to add to its trade legacy by winning approval of all three agreements before President George W. Bush leaves office in January 2009.

But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other senior Democrats -- including presidential candidates Sen. Hillary Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards -- have objected to both the South Korean and the Colombian pact.

They dislike the auto provisions of the South Korean agreement and have expressed concern about violence against trade union members in Colombia.

The Panama agreement faces problems because the head of that country's legislature is wanted in the United States on charges of killing a U.S. soldier in 1992.

All three agreements were signed before the White House's "fast-track" trade promotion authority expired in June 2007.

That law requires lawmakers to vote within 90 legislative days on any trade agreements that Bush sends to Congress.