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The article reflects on the U.S. port deal with the government of Dubai, United Arab Emirates as part of free trade agreement. It criticizes politicians who play a role in the port debacle. It denounces the ignorance of the Republican Party on the disadvantages of the port deal. It argues on the importance of reassessment instead of implementing new treaty, migration and integration policies.

The article reports on the visit of President George W. Bush to Latin America in an attempt to open trade markets. The influence of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who supports protectionism and socialism, was strengthened. President Bush was hoping that the summit of leaders of the Western Hemisphere would encourage negotiations on a Free Trade Area of the Americas. However, the meeting was characterized primarily by division. Venezuela was joined by four countries, described by Chávez as "five musketeers" who condemned the U.S. model as a "perversion" that would primarily benefit the U.S. These events reflected the fact that Washington can no longer set the economic agenda in the developing world.

This article reports that U.S. Trade Representative John Portman reported to key members of the U.S. Congress today that the final barriers to the free trade agreement (FTA) with Bahrain are being ironed out and that the deal should be ready for congressional consideration this year. Portman also told lawmakers that South Korea, Egypt, Malaysia and Switzerland all have approached the United States about the possibility of launching bilateral trade talks. The FTA between the United States and Bahrain was signed a year ago and following extensive consultations between the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and Capitol Hill, supporters hope to put the agreement before the House and Senate this fall.

Reports that U.S. Republican Congressional leaders are struggling to line up enough votes to pass the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which would cut trade barriers with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. Suggestion that the inability to placate sugar producers raises doubts about President George W. Bush's ability to push the trade deal through Congress; Issue of weak support for trade agreements; Strength of the sugar lobby; Views of legislators; Divisions within the Senate Finance Committee; Background on the agreement; Objections of sugar industry executives and their supporters in Congress.

This article reports that newly minted Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee ranking member Benjamin Cardin, said that he would use his position to press the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to bring more cases at the World Trade Organization to enforce U.S. rights under trade agreements. Cardin called for a case against China over the alleged undervaluation of the Chinese yuan, although he said he did not support legislation to threaten China with punitive tariffs if it did not re-value its currency. Cardin also called for the U.S. administration to re-negotiate labor and environmental chapters of the Central America Free Trade Agreement.

This article informs that U.S. trade officials warned Central American officials this week that a move by Guatemala to strip protections for test data used in the approval of drugs has put the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) in jeopardy. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick met with ambassadors from Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and El Salvador to discuss the Guatemalan legislation, which was enacted late last year and has drawn protest from U.S. pharmaceutical firms, trade sources said. Unlike the Dominican Republic, which Zoellick last year threatened to de-link from the CAFTA because of a separate dispute over corn syrup, Guatemala's prospects rise or fall with those of the four other Central American countries with which the U.S. initially negotiated the pact.

The article presents a report on US trade policy. U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue today said the top trade priority for his group next year will be pushing forward global trade talks under the Doha round, and acknowledged that the business community will have to be persistent to keep the White House focused on that task. Donohue predicted that even while tackling such weighty issues as revamping Social Security, reforming the tax code and addressing national health care, President George W. Bush will view a global trade agreement as a" legacy" issue and" vigorously" pursue it.

Although the U.S. government will likely ignore their recommendation, that did not stop Democrats from making mischief at a nonbinding, Senate Finance Committee "mock markup" today of the U.S.-Australia free trade agreement. In a move that clearly surprised and irritated Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley, the committee approved 11-10 an amendment that would, in effect, give the panel the power to veto any decision by the U.S. Trade Representative to waive safeguard restrictions for imported beef that are built into the trade pact. The amendment by Sen. Kent Conrad garnered the support of all 10 panel Democrats and Sen. Olympia Snowe.

Reports the United States has reached a free-trade agreement with several Central American nations. View of author that this could become an election-year issue because of U.S. anxiety about jobs lost overseas and the merits of trade liberalization; Details of the agreement between the U.S. and El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua; Statistics related to international trade between the U.S. and countries in Central America, indicating the region's growing importance to U.S. trade; Anticipation of controversy to be generated in the U.S. Congress as the result of the trade agreement, called the Central American Free Trade Agreement (Cafta).

Costa Rica at presstime this afternoon was expected to announce its withdrawal from what was to be the final round of negotiations to conclude a free trade agreement with the United States and four other Central American countries, throwing into confusion at least the timing for completing the pact. Costa Rican and U.S. negotiators in recent days had been unable to bridge differences over U.S. demands that Costa Rica sign on to certain intellectual property protections and open its insurance market, in addition to differences over agriculture and several other sticking points.

Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said today that the expected battle next year over a Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) would focus on labor and environmental provisions in the deal, setting up a traditional union-versus-business trade fight over "blue and green" issues. Zoellick spoke at the U.S. White House to a group of Latino business and community leaders who will make up the new Latino Coalition for Trade, a group that will fight for CAFTA on Capitol Hill. The labor provisions will call for countries to enforce their own labor laws, a concept hotly rejected by union officials who want to hold the Central American nations to international standards. Speaking to reporters after the session, Zoellick appeared to play down reports indicating that Brazil and the United States had found common ground on their approach to next week's Miami ministerial of the Free Trade Area of the Americas negotiations.

WASHINGTON -- The White House struck a deal with House Republicans Tuesday to reinstate benefits for workers who lose jobs to foreign competition, addressing a major obstacle to consideration of three free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama. Haggling over the modest and obscure benefits program had tied up the trade pacts for months, pitting Democrats concerned about the impact of competition on American workers against Republicans eager to increase foreign trade but loath to increase federal spending on another aid program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Progress on a free trade deal with Colombia has cleared the way for the White House to seek Congressional approval of a package of trade agreements that includes pacts with South Korea and Panama, as Republicans have demanded. Obama administration officials said Wednesday that they expected technical discussions about the agreements to begin Thursday with Capitol Hill aides, the first step in the approval process. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Before coming here on a visit in February, President Obama assured anxious Canadians in a television interview that the United States' trading partners had nothing to fear from the ''Buy America'' provisions in federal stimulus bills. But now that the stimulus money is flowing, many Canadian companies are finding that, despite the president's assurances, the North American Free Trade Agreement does not in fact offer them much protection. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

President Bush pulled the leaders of Mexico and Canada into an unusually direct involvement in his domestic political efforts to expand free trade on Tuesday when his two North American allies joined him in a foray into both Congressional politics and the presidential campaign. President Felipe Calderon of Mexico and Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada lent their weight to what has been something of a lonely campaign by the president as he has traveled the country to make pro-trade speeches and angry statements about the ''petty politics'' that he sees threatening one of his administration's major legacies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The author comments on the proposal by the U.S. Congress to block the full opening of the southern border to Mexican long haul trucks under the North American Free Trade Agreement. The author believes that this move by the Congress will damage the U.S. economy. Mexico could also retaliate with import tariffs on U.S. goods if the proposed budget cut for inspections of trucks at the border is approved by the Congress, says the author.

The article reports that the White House has issued a Statement of Administration Policy strongly supporting the free-trade agreement with Peru, saying the deal would create significant market opportunities for U.S. firms and would particularly benefit small- and medium-sized businesses. The statement says that approval will send a clear signal to the neighbors, and the world, that the U.S. is willing to support those who share values of economic freedom and democracy.

The article reports that U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is opposing a move to grant a short-term extension for duty-free trade preference programs for developing countries scheduled to expire at the end of the year. Senate Finance ranking member Max Baucus has introduced a legislation Friday that gives a two-year extension. Grassley is angry about the role Brazil, India and other developing nations played in the collapse of the Doha trade talks.

The article reports that U.S. Deputy Trade Representative Karan Bhatia reassured the House International Relations Committee that the free trade agreement which the country is negotiating with South Korea will in no way wind up rewarding the North Korean regime of Kim Jong II. The committee's chairman Henry Hyde asked Bhatia to clarify whether the agreement will extend to North Korea's Kaesong industrial area. Bhatia also revealed that there were no plans to enter a free trade agreement with Taiwan.

This article reports that the U.S. will not seek a free trade agreement with Egypt this year. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said that the administration was thought to be planning an agreement with the government of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak by year's end but switched course after what it saw as backsliding on Egyptian promises to change the political system. Rice, however, denied the trade pact was being withheld to penalize the Egyptian government. Trade Representative Rob Portman has said overall free trade agreements with potential partners need to be finished by the end of 2006. The administration has said it needs to meet that timetable before expedited presidential trade negotiating authority expires in mid-2007.

Focuses on ports in the United States, which are seeking to expand their operations but are facing mounting opposition. Environmental concerns of the opposition related to an increase of cargo ships with diesel engines; Comments from Natalie O'Neill, mayor of Taylor Lake Village (Tex.) and an opponent of a proposal to expand a port in Houston, regarding the negative impact of larger ports on the U.S. economy; Reasons for the delay in opening a new terminal in Los Angeles (Calif.); Efforts of opponents in several port cities, including Charleston (S.C.) and Savannah (Ga.), to block proposed expansions; View of maritime executives that logjams at ports hurt the U.S. economy; Percentage of U.S. imports arriving by ship, indicating the importance of U.S. ports; View of environmentalists that ports are largest contributors to air pollution.

Focuses on duty-free shops. Definition of duty-free and why Americans are not usually customers in duty-free shops; Business conditions that make duty-free shopping a bargain, including slumping American dollar and demand for luxury goods; Examples of bargains to be found at the Honolulu, Hawaii duty-free shop; Demand for the high end designer handbag from Hermes called the Kelly handbag; Impact of Japanese consumers' tastes on pricing strategies at duty-free shops; Comparison of prices of the Kelly handbags retail and at duty-free shops; Where Americans can find bargains on Cuban cigars.

Discusses the official opening of negotiations by the George W. Bush administration to create a free trade agreement with five Central American countries. Responsibility these trade agreements are giving to United States trade representative, Robert B. Zoellick; What critics in Latin America are saying about the administration's strategy when creating these agreements; Effect these trade agreements will have on Latin America's trade with Europe.

States that the administration of United States President George W. Bush plans to eliminate all tariffs on industrial and consumer goods by 2015. Details of the proposed plan that will be submitted to the World Trade Organization and cover big industrial products like automobiles, machinery and labor intensive consumer goods like clothing, textiles, and leather handbags; Speculation that the U.S. will gain credibility for its stance on free-trade issues; Idea that Latin American and Asian countries might object to the plan; Topic of anti-dumping and safeguard tariffs on imported steel and protectionism by the U.S. for the American farmer; Expectation that other countries will cut their tariffs; Outlook for duty-free trade.