Pubdate: Tue, 30 Apr 2002
Source: Montana Standard (MT)
Copyright: 2002 Montana Standard
Contact:  http://www.mtstandard.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/609
Note: First published in The Orlando, Fla., Sentinel

PROMOTING TRADE

President Bush needs more authority to work out trade agreements.

Such authority would let the president negotiate trade agreements and 
submit them to Congress for approval or rejection, as is, within 90 days. 
U.S. presidents had the authority from 1974 through 1994, but Congress took 
it away from Bill Clinton.

As the Senate prepares to take up this issue, its leaders also wisely 
included an act that gives trade preferences to Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and 
Colombia.

The measure has become an invaluable weapon in the war on drug trafficking 
and terrorism. Without free access to U.S. markets, Andean industries risk 
getting squeezed out by the drug trade. And profits from narcotics are 
bankrolling terrorist groups in the region, including the Marxist 
guerrillas threatening Colombia.

Enhanced trade authority for the president will promote a safer and more 
prosperous hemisphere. Those two reasons alone argue for swift Senate approval.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom