Senators like Peru, but some will never like Bush

The Senate approved a free-trade pact with Peru by a vote of 77 to 18 on Tuesday. The United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act will open the Peruvian market to American wheat and beef producers and requires the countries to implement and enforce labor and environmental protections. The agreement passed the House on Nov. 8 and now goes to President Bush to sign into law.

Trade pacts with Colombia, Panama and Korea remain in limbo. Bush said in a statement that the agreement "will level the playing field for American exporters and investors and will expand an important market in this hemisphere for U.S. goods and services." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who recently returned from a fact-finding trip to Latin America, took the opportunity to criticize the administration’s policies in the region. "What we heard repeatedly there in almost every country we visited was that the Bush administration had neglected the region," Reid said. "And, in fact, they are right. We have cut development assistance, eliminated programs and repeatedly overlooked our neighbors to the south." Instead of aid or a variety of trade tools, Reid said, "we have a simplistic, singular policy of free-trade agreements."

Posted by Nicole Gaouette in Washington