CAFTA faces opposition in U.S. House

WASHINGTON, July 1 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate approved the seven-country Central American Free Trade Agreement, but the future of the pact in the House is unclear.

The Senate voted 54-45 Thursday to approve CAFTA, which removed some $32 billion in restrictions on goods traded among the United States, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

The measure, which has been strongly pushed by President Bush, heads to the House where opposition to the trade deal is strong. Opponents of CAFTA say the deal would lead to U.S. jobs being moved to other CAFTA countries where workers earn low wages and labor and environmental laws are rarely enforced, The New York Times said.

The Bush administration, however, says CAFTA allows U.S. agriculture and manufactured goods to find new markets while strengthening Bush's hand regarding larger international trade deals, especially those involving agriculture subsidies, the newspaper said.

U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman told the Times: "This is a gateway to other agreements. If this agreement goes down, it will signal to the rest of the world that America's leadership role in trade is being abdicated."