Bush pursuing elusive free Americas trade at summit

Nov 4, 2005, 2:01 GMT

Washington/Mar del Plata - U.S. President George W. Bush arrived Thursday under strict security in Argentina for the fourth Americas summit, where he faces substantial resistance in his push for free trade across North and South America.

The two-day gathering of 34 national leaders - known as the Summit of the Americas - begins Friday in Mar del Plata. Protestors, including Argentina's football hero Diego Maradona, gathered through the day to give Bush a chilly reception, carrying posters that said 'W. go home'.

The motto of the summit is job creation and how it can wipe out poverty and strengthen democracy. But with global trade talks dragging in the World Trade Organization (WTO), progress on the all- Americas zone has been likewise lagging.

On the eve of the summit, the final communique was 'still being negotiated', said a Bush administration official.

Washington's push for the long-discussed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) from Canada to the tip of Argentina is expected to hit stiff resistance from several Latin American countries including Venezuela, whose leader Hugo Chavez has declared his intention to bury the proposal at the summit.

But an administration official conceded that the WTO lag is also holding back progress with the Americas deal.

Tom Shannon, U.S. assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, told reporters on board Bush's Air Force One that the president believes 'that the best way to get FTAA moving is to have a successful' WTO meeting in Hong Kong in December, 'and press the agricultural subsidies issue'.

Brazil, seen as key to any success at this week's talks, two years ago led a group of mostly developing nations that blocked progress on the WTO Doha round of talks. They demanded wealthier countries stop paying domestic and export farm subsidies that undermine the price of their agricultural exports.

While the United States has indicated readiness to concede on the subsidies front, the European Union is still wrestling with the issue that will move front and center next month in Hong Kong.

Shannon said Washington was pursuing a two-track policy with its separate free trade agreements with Chile, Central American countries (CAFTA) and the Dominican Republic. Those agreements 'push the free trade agenda', he said.

Critics say Bush is pushing the piecemeal agreements because an all-Americas agreement is so elusive.

CAFTA, which only passed U.S. Congress earlier this year after a personal visit to Capitol Hill by Bush and some midnight arm twisting, has come under fire for lacking worker protections and threats to U.S. jobs.

At an interim Americas summit in Mexico in early 2004, Washington backed down on its demands to set a January 2005 deadline for a FTAA agreement, and also dropped its push for a 'transparency clause' in the final text that would have excluded corrupt countries from future summits.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who has been excluded from the summit for human rights violations, has nonetheless blasted Washington in interview broadcast on Maradona's popular sports show.

Another Bush nemesis in Latin America, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, will be on hand - after dubbing the U.S. president 'Mr. Danger.'

Shannon however dismissed the prospects of serious disagreements at the summit, saying the protests will likely be 'choreographed'. He said the U.S. 'commitment to democracy' tolerated such action.

'We expect people to express themselves,' he said.

Bush departed after hosting Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, at the White House Wednesday night for a formal dinner, and his journey allows him to escape the turmoil in Washington. But Bush probably won't find a friendlier climate when in Latin America, where his policies are deeply unpopular and have provoked a new wave of anti-Americanism.

'Bush is likely to feel lonely at the Mar del Plata summit,' said Michael Shifter, vice president of the InterAmerican Dialogue, a Washington think tank. 'There is a sour mood in the region, and great resentment felt toward the U.S. and the Bush administration in particular.'

An estimated 44 per cent - or 220 million people - in Latin America live in poverty, according to last year's figures from the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.