BOGOTA, Colombia – The Bush administration has a prescription for fighting coca growing, sidelining Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and saving thousands of jobs in Latin America: extending free trade to Andean nations.
A senior Bush administration official said this week that the White House would push the U.S. Congress to pass a bill continuing trade benefits for Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia under a little-known law.
It wants the bill passed during the U.S. Congress’ “lame duck session” after the November elections and before the new Congress is sworn in January – while free trade-friendly Republicans still control Congress.
The administration has acknowledged that an extension of trade preferences would improve frayed diplomatic relations in Latin America while countering Chavez’s influence, analysts said.
The White House has mounted an 11th-hour campaign to preserve the trade perks, which have generated thousands of jobs, given birth to entire export industries and provided alternatives to drug trafficking. The benefits expire Dec. 31.
The Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act was initiated in 1991 by the first President Bush. U.S.-Colombia trade alone has tripled to $15 billion since 1990, thanks partly to the boom in floral, apparel, liquor and fresh produce industries.
Industries from pouched tuna in Ecuador to asparagus in Peru have sprung up to take advantage of special rules that allow products to enter the U.S. market duty-free.
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