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28 May 2004

Congressional Vote on CAFTA Unlikely Before U.S. November Elections

Views differ on the prospects for passage of CAFTA

By Scott Miller
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- A congressional vote on the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) signed on May 28 is unlikely to take place before the November elections in the United States, according to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick.

At a May 27 press conference in Washington announcing the conclusion of a free-trade agreement between the United States and Bahrain, Zoellick said that, given time constraints and opposition to the accord, the Bush administration will probably wait until after the November elections to pursue a vote on the agreement between the United States and the Central American nations of El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras and Costa Rica.

Zoellick suggested that a congressional session following the elections may present an opportunity to approve the agreement before the end of 2004, but he acknowledged that remarks by Democratic presidential candidate Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts -- who has vowed to veto and renegotiate CAFTA, if elected -- complicate efforts to court the support of congressional Democrats.

At the same time, a number of congressional Democrats are accusing the Bush administration of not engaging Congress in crafting CAFTA, and they are calling for modifications of the agreement.

In a May 27 statement, the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, Representative Charles Rangel (Democrat of New York); the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, Representative Sander Levin (Democrat of Michigan); and Trade Subcommittee member Representative Xavier Becerra (Democrat of California) questioned the administration's commitment to trade with Central America.

"With the CAFTA agreement to be signed tomorrow, the Bush administration shows it is not serious about increasing trade with Central America. If it were serious, it would have reached out to Congress -- to Democrats and Republicans -- and put together a bipartisan agreement," the legislators' statement said. "Instead, the Bush administration lost a major opportunity."

The congressional Democrats urged the U.S. trade representative to modify CAFTA provisions relating to labor standards and to access to low-cost generic medicines. They warned that the agreement, as currently constructed, is unlikely to be approved.

"Thanks to the Bush Administration, the CAFTA is on a midnight train to nowhere -- in an election year or any year," the legislators said.

Despite opposition to the CAFTA among some Democrats as well as some Republicans from sugar- and textile-producing districts, Representative Kevin Brady (Republican of Texas), charged with spearheading congressional support for CAFTA, predicted that the agreement will be approved.

"When the Central America Free Trade Agreement comes before Congress, I am confident that it will have the votes to pass," Brady said in a May 27 press release.

For its part, the United States' largest industrial trade association, the National Association of Manufactures (NAM), has pledged to work to secure congressional approval of the agreement at the earliest opportunity.

Frank Vargo, NAM's vice president for international economic affairs, hailed CAFTA as "the highest-quality trade agreement yet." In a May 28 press release, he said: "The outstanding rules in this cutting-edge agreement can serve as mileposts for future trade accords in the Americas, including the U.S-Andean Free Trade Agreement and the Free Trade Area of the Americas."

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)