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View Full Version : Bush pushes free trade in Latin America



LiberalNation
03-12-2007, 05:12 PM
Don't know if this is a good thing or not. Not an economics wizz but would think it would send our jobs over there while not helping them that much either.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070312/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/bush_latin_america;_ylt=AntqdSb4PcxHKik9WRMh1iNvaA 8F

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala - President Bush promoted free trade as a salve to Latin America's woes, speaking out against poverty from dusty mountain villages Monday to counter critics' portrayal of America as the devil to the north.

Helping to load lettuce headed for the global market with U.S. help and touring an American military center that provides basic medical care and physician training, Bush emphasized U.S. largesse in this part of the world.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the leftist firebrand with rising stature who has been shadowing Bush throughout this trip, was in Jamaica and Haiti, countries he is courting with preferential oil contracts and generous aid packages. His message is that the United States ignores the needs of Latin America.

Bush met in Guatemala City with President Oscar Berger, a conservative leader who has become a strong U.S. ally. Trade and immigration were high on the agenda.

Bush was treated to a welcoming ceremony in the courtyard of Guatemala's National Palace, the site of the signing of 1996 peace accords that ended a 36-year civil war in which the United States played a sometimes-checkered role.

Bush placed a white rose in the bronze memorial, then he and Berger celebrated relations that are strong despite the past and present differences that still top the minds of many here.

Berger said he and Bush would "address differences between us in a constructive spirit."

Guatemalan Vice President Eduardo Stein told The Associated Press that Berger would communicate the government's support for the changes in U.S. immigration policy that Bush seeks, including a temporary-worker program. He also said Guatemala would ask for technical assistance, such as helicopters, radar and other equipment, to battle drug trafficking.

About 500 people marched toward the centrally located national palace in Guatemala City to protest Bush's visit, some carrying signs with anti-Bush messages and others burning an effigy of the president.

The demonstration was mostly peaceful, but more than 5,000 police and soldiers surrounded the national palace to prevent it from getting too close to the president.

During his helicopter visit to hill towns, Bush showcased the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which he just barely got through a then-Republican Congress in 2005. The Democratic takeover of Congress has left the prospects for further free-trade agreements dubious. But Bush was undeterred.

"Free trade is important for a lot of people. It's important for our country, it's a gateway. It creates jobs in America just like it creates jobs here," Bush told farmers and workers at a thriving vegetable packing station in Chirijuyu.

Nestled in the mountains outside the capital of Guatemala City, Labradores Mayas sells the products of about 60 farmers to retailers. Wal-Mart Central America is the biggest customer for the cooperative's lettuce, carrots, cabbage and flowers.

Bush was introduced by Mariano Canu, a local farmer who helped found the cooperative — with U.S. financial aid — in the 1990s. In a Washington speech about Latin America before the trip, Bush singled out Canu as example of how U.S.-backed trade can help better the lives of Latin America's poor.

Canu said he began as a day laborer on a sugar cane plantation but "kept improving over time" as a farmer. "The people here work hard. ... They want to sell you our products," he told Bush.

U.S. programs are "helping people like you all throughout the region to realize your dreams," the president said.

In the village of Santa Cruz Balanya, the president visited a temporary U.S. Army health training center — one of many set up throughout the region. Bush and first lady Laura Bush also talked with students and teachers at an elementary school and toured the town library, strolling through a square packed with more than a thousand villagers.

Before returning by helicopter to Guatemala City, the Bushes also took in Mayan ruins in the village of Iximche.

5stringJeff
03-12-2007, 05:13 PM
Free trade is always a good thing, because it always increases the efficiencies of the economies involved, which means cheaper goods for consumers.

LiberalNation
03-12-2007, 05:15 PM
True didn't think about the cheaper goods thing.

avatar4321
03-12-2007, 08:02 PM
If others can do jobs better and cheaper then us, what makes us deserve them any more than the others do?

LiberalNation
03-12-2007, 08:07 PM
Because we have to live here and it would be for the good of society if good jobs also lived here not outsourced to cheaper lands.

5stringJeff
03-13-2007, 10:18 AM
Because we have to live here and it would be for the good of society if good jobs also lived here not outsourced to cheaper lands.

"Outsourcing" means cheaper goods. It also means that more workers are available in other industries that cannot be outsourced, like service, retail, or transportation industries. It's not like the only "good" jobs are manufacturing jobs.

stang56k
03-13-2007, 10:25 AM
"Outsourcing" means cheaper goods. It also means that more workers are available in other industries that cannot be outsourced, like service, retail, or transportation industries. It's not like the only "good" jobs are manufacturing jobs.


But, there is a little thing called a trade deficit that tends to grow when all you do is give other people our money.

5stringJeff
03-13-2007, 10:30 AM
But, there is a little thing called a trade deficit that tends to grow when all you do is give other people our money.

The trade deficit is an irrelevant statistic. GDP is still growing, and individual incomes are still growing.

stang56k
03-13-2007, 10:44 AM
The trade deficit is an irrelevant statistic. GDP is still growing, and individual incomes are still growing.

How is the trade deficit and irrelevant statistic, Even though the GDP is growing the imported products are rising quicker, watering down the Dollar's value.