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Examines how pro-free-trade Congressmen are nervous as recent trade agreements are linked to economic woes. Patrick J. Buchanan's protectionist message which was bolstered by the release of 1995 trade deficit numbers which show the United States trade gap at a seven-year high; Strong supporters of free trade who are now tacking toward Buchanan; Reaction to the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement. INSET: Trade legislation before Congress.

Opinion. Suggests that an eerie silence has descended in Washington on the free-trade front. Little done by the 104th Congress to promote the cause of free trade; Patrick J. Buchanan, the unabashed anti-free-trader; Views of the Clinton administration and Bob Dole regarding free trade.

Details House Majority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) and Rep. Henry A. Waxman's (D-Calif.) resolution (H Con Res 246), recently approved by the Ways and Means Committee, stating that Congress will not approve a trade agreement that jeopardizes US health, safety, labor or environmental laws. Free-trade negotiations with Mexico and Canada; Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton's similar concerns about the free-trade agreement; More.

Covers the House Ways and Means Committee's voice vote approval on bills (H J Res 507, H J Res 512) on July 29, 1992 that would grant most-favored-nation (MFN) status to Romania and Albania--the two remaining countries from the former East block that do not enjoy normalized trade with the US. Delay of action on the Romania bill until after election in that country in late September; More.