Bush go-ahead to Peru trade deal sparks criticism

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Friday, 01.16.09
Bush go-ahead to Peru trade deal sparks criticism
By ANDREW WHALEN
Associated Press Writer

LIMA, Peru -- President George W. Bush signed off Friday on a free trade pact with Peru that U.S. officials say will foster economic growth, but which lawmakers in both countries complain does not meet environmental and labor protection requirements.

In a statement issued in Washington, where Bush signed a proclamation enacting the pact on Feb. 1, U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab called trade expansion "a vital component of our effort to restore economic growth in the global economy."

Free trade agreements have been a hallmark of the Bush administration but the Democrat-led U.S. Congress only approved the Peru pact in December 2007 - 20 months after it was signed - following Peru's agreement to strengthen laws protecting trade unions and the environment.

Bush's move on Friday, four days before he leaves office, met with a chorus of complaints from both countries.

Opposition lawmakers in Peru complained chiefly that President Alan Garcia has failed to honor the stricter environmental standards, permitting legal loopholes that they say could endanger the country's Amazon rain forest.

Along with environmentalists, they say a newly amended forestry law backed by Garcia will allow large swaths of rain forest to be converted into biofuel projects if they are deemed "a matter of national interest."

"The new law means 70 percent of the Amazon runs the risk of deforestation," Roger Najar, who heads Congress' indigenous caucus, told The Associated Press. He said Garcia signed a January 2008 decree that deemed the development of sugar cane and bamboo plantations in the national interest.

More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/AP/story/857652.html