Pacts with Colombia, Peru, Panama 'require change' ( House Democrats)

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Pacts with Colombia, Peru, Panama 'require change'
Published on: 4/2/07.


WASHINGTON, United States – The Bush administration needs to change free trade agreements with Colombia, Peru and Panama in order to win their approval in Congress, said senior Democrats.

House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee chairman Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat, told reporters he believed Democrats and the Bush administration were close to a deal on a long list of trade concerns his party had raised.

"We are on the brink of restoring bipartisanship to trade policies," Rangel said.

That will require changing labour provisions of the Peru and Colombia agreements to include an enforceable commitment to abide by core international labour standards, said Rep. Sander Levin, a Michigan Democrat who heads the Ways and Means trade subcommittee.



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