Cuba Solidarity Event in Nicaragua
Panama
Moves To Top of Obama's List For A Trade Agreement
Panama
Reports 4 New Cases Of AH1N1
Flu
Honduras Confirms First AH1N1 Flu Case
Panama moves to top of Obama's list for a
trade agreement
By Chris Kraul
Panama - A frequent
critic of NAFTA and other trade pacts when
he was on the campaign trail, President
Obama is now throwing his support behind a
trade deal with Panama, courting a potential
backlash among his labor supporters.
The administration is expected to make its
case before a Senate Finance Committee
hearing today in Washington, where his team
is likely to face sharp questioning about
Obama's change of heart on a deal the
president now apparently views as a
strategic imperative.
The Panama trade deal, which Obama is
pushing for approval of by July 1, is one of
three bilateral accords negotiated by the
Bush administration that later stalled in
Congress. The others are deals with Colombia
and South Korea, both of which Obama wants
passed this year as well.
The Panama pact bogged down over U.S.
lawmakers' concerns about that country's
poor enforcement of labor rights and its
reputation as a haven for offshore tax
evasion. Last week a White House negotiating
team visited the Central American nation and
successfully extracted concessions from the
Panamanians on those issues, according to
people familiar with the talks.
Panama's trade deal was behind that of
Colombia on the Bush agenda. Obama has moved
it to the forefront because the
administration sees it as having the best
chance at passage, creating momentum for the
two others, according to the people familiar
with the White House legislative strategy,
who were not authorized to speak publicly.
Obama's views on trade have evolved quickly
since his inauguration, said Michael Shifter
of the Inter-American Dialogue in
Washington. At last month's Summit of the
Americas, the president promised to shun
protectionism. He also saw that Latin
American countries were forging trade ties
with China, Russia and other nations seeking
to gain influence in the hemisphere, Shifter
said.
Obama's turnabout also reflects his goals of
rewarding strategic allies and confronting
economic necessity, said Eric Farnsworth, a
former Clinton administration official now
with the Council of the Americas think tank
in Washington.
With its canal, growing transportation
infrastructure and booming U.S. tourism and
trade, Panama has taken on an important
profile, said one person familiar with the
Obama administration's thinking. Panama is
also a staunch ally in the U.S. war on
drugs, U.S. counter-narcotics officials say.
"If we alienate this country, it does
matter," said the person. "For them, the
free-trade agreement is a sign of
friendship."
But the president has offended some of his
strongest election backers, including the
AFL-CIO and human rights groups that oppose
such trade agreements on general principles.
The president risks "alienating core
supporters in a way that could cripple the
broader agenda," said Farnsworth, adding
that "the fight in Washington has only just
begun."
On Wednesday, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and
Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) sent a letter
to Obama urging him to postpone the deal
until Panama cooperates in combating
international tax evasion.
"In this time of economic distress, we can
no longer afford to ignore the billions of
dollars of tax revenue lost to the U.S.
Treasury due to the bank secrecy practices
of Panama and other tax havens," Doggett and
Levin wrote.
Still, Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the
Peterson Institute for International
Economics in Washington, said chances were
good for a trade deal with Panama.
"It's an easy sell. Congressional Democrats
who dislike free trade can stomach Panama
because of its benign image. It doesn't
export much clothing and [it] is spending a
lot of money on canal expansion."
|
|
|
|
|
