Whether the bills are illegal under CAFTA remains to be seen, though several experts doubt it.
They want substantive changes in the trade deal itself or CAFTA won't win their support.
We have CAFTA, the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which the administration would like to see working better.
If a Doha agreement ever reaches the House floor, the fight over CAFTA will seem but a skirmish.
ECONOMIST: A small victory for free trade as CAFTA passes | The
Independent economists would argue, however, that CAFTA can actually be more of a benefit than a threat for Guatemala.
Cafta would generate economic growth for its members, thereby undergirding their nascent democracies.
Still, the campaign for CAFTA remains in an early phase on the Hill.
But CAFTA's strictures do not apply to several sensitive crops, such as white corn and Costa Rican potatoes and onions.
ECONOMIST: A small victory for free trade as CAFTA passes | The
Ratification of CAFTA will also show other countries that there are still tangible benefits to standing by the United States.
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: The national security case for CAFTA
They complain that some of the signatories to CAFTA fail to enforce labour standards laid down by the International Labour Organisation.
ECONOMIST: A small victory for free trade as CAFTA passes | The
Not only would the proposals decimate the industry, they say, they might also violate the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).
There is hardly a Central American election which is not at least partly focused on CAFTA. Guatemalans have already tuned in.
The Bush Administration and other proponents of CAFTA contend that this trade agreement will increase markets in Central America for U.S. products.
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: The national security case for CAFTA
By providing more quality jobs in Central America, CAFTA will reduce the need for people to emigrate illegally to the United States.
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: The national security case for CAFTA
Extensive imports of alternative energy from CAFTA partners can help diversify US energy dependency away from Venezuela towards economic partners like Guatemala.
The House was voting on CAFTA, the Central America Free Trade Agreement.
When we negotiated the trade agreement called the CAFTA DR, which opened up new markets for Guatemalan farmers, the entrepreneurial spirit came forth.
Bush will discuss CAFTA and other issues -- including drug trafficking and the battle over U.S. immigration policy -- with Guatemalan President Oscar Berger.
CAFTA's signatories, still has no paved roads reaching its Atlantic coast.
He has also promised not to oppose CAFTA. Funes prefers to be seen as a pragmatist in the category of President Luis Inacio Lula Da Silva of Brazil.
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On Monday, Bush was also visiting a farm cooperative to try to argue that the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) is helping improve the lives of the poor.
The Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with four Central American nations and the Dominican Republic, also concluded during the current Bush Administration, has stabilized their economic and political climates.
The Senate appears even less inclined to back CAFTA. Opponents cite everything from what they see as inadequate labor and environmental protections to concerns that the deal will eliminate more U.S. textile jobs.
One reason Cafta is in deep trouble is that the U.S. sugar lobby wants to kill it, because the agreement would allow an increase in sugar imports equal to 1% of the U.S. market.
Earlier this year, CAFTA nations nominated a pro-U.S. candidate to become secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS), the 57 year-old intergovernmental hemispheric collective security organization that includes all governments in the Americas (except Cuba).
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: The national security case for CAFTA
The trade deal in question is the Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA. It's something of a logical progression from the NAFTA trade pact with Mexico and Canada that Congress ratified and President Clinton signed in 1993.
Although he has spoken in support of free trade in the past (and voted for NAFTA), his more recent record includes "no" votes on the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and a number of bilateral free trade agreements.
He notes that, as Dr. Luft has observed, ethanol derived from sugar has transformed Brazil's energy security situation - and could, with the help of our new CAFTA and other, friendly Latin American and Caribbean partners, help transform ours.
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The problem, of course, is that many in Congress still aren't buying CAFTA. Even some members who consider themselves free traders, such as California House Democrat Ellen Tauscher, say they can't vote for the trade deal as it stands today.
Some CAFTA members show worse statistics.
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