U.S. lawmakers approve extension of Andean trade agreement

WASHINGTON: The U.S. House of Representatives agreed to a short-term extension of a trade agreement with four Andean nations.

The 365-59 vote confirmed a bipartisan compromise worked out Tuesday to extend the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act for eight months. The act provides duty-free access to U.S. markets for some 5,600 products from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

The act, which is to expire at the end of this month, was limited to an eight-month extension because the Bush administration is pushing new bilateral free trade agreements with Peru and Colombia that would replace the current trade relationship.

The Senate is also expected to vote on the measure before the current act expires. "This is a reasonable compromise," said Sen. Charles Grassley, top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. "It gives us a window to enact the Peru and Colombia free trade agreements, which I support."

The act was signed into law in 1991 with the goal of offering economic incentives to combat drug production and trafficking in the four Andean nations.

Next on the trade agenda could be the free trade agreement with Peru. The Bush administration announced Monday that it had reached agreement with Peru on amendments concerning labor rights and environmental protections that Democrats say must be part of any future trade deal.

The Democratic Congress must also confront the issue of trade promotion, or fast track, authority, which gives the president the power to negotiate trade deals that Congress can reject or accept but cannot amend. Trade promotion authority expires at the end of this month.

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The bill is H.R. 1830