Bush urges review of Colombian trade pact

The House has blocked consideration of the free-trade measure.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush, ahead of his trip next week to a summit with North American leaders, said Saturday that the House’s decision to block a vote on a Colombia free-trade agreement was a “serious error” and urged Congress to reconsider.

The Bush administration has insisted that the deal would be good for the U.S. economy because it would eliminate high barriers that American exports to Colombia now face. Most Colombian products already are entering the United States duty-free under existing trade preference laws.

“The situation is completely one-sided,” Bush said in his weekly radio address. “Our markets are open to Colombian products, but barriers that make it harder to sell American goods in Colombia remain. If the free-trade agreement were implemented, however, most of Colombia’s tariffs on American goods would be eliminated immediately.”

Democrats, however, have cited the continued violence against organized labor in Colombia and differences with the administration over how to extend a program that helps U.S. workers displaced by foreign competition.

Bush sent the agreement to Capitol Hill this month, but the House, led by Democrats, decided to eliminate a rule forcing a vote on the deal within 60 legislative days. The House’s decision probably kills consideration of the Colombia agreement this year, leaving it for the next administration.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who initiated the rules change, blames Bush for submitting the agreement before a consensus was reached with congressional leaders on outstanding differences. She has said that whether the agreement is dead for the year depends on the good faith of negotiations between Democrats and the White House.

Bush, who is meeting Monday and Tuesday in New Orleans with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon to talk about trade and other issues affecting the hemisphere, has staked out free trade as one of his chief economic legacies.