House passes CAFTA Updated 10:11 a.m. ET, Thu Jul 28, 2005 The JOURNAL of COMMERCE ONLINE The House of Representatives approved the controversial Central American Free Trade Agreement early Thursday after intense last-minute lobbying by the White House. The 217-215 vote, which came after midnight, ratified a trade pact that Republicans have promoted as a means of expanding U.S. markets in five Central American countries and the Dominican Republic. The Bush administration also argued that the pact would help bring further political security to a long volatile region close to the United States. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney raised the stakes of the debate by going to Capitol Hill to argue that American's national security was directly involved in the trade pact. The agreement passed after Republican House leaders held open the roll call for more than an hour -- instead of the usual 15 minutes -- while they rounded up votes. In late June, the Senate approved the trade agreement. Most House Republicans supported the measure while most Democrats opposed it. However, 25 GOP members voted against it and 15 Democrats voted for it. Two Republicans did not vote, and the lone House independent voted no. Earlier the same day, the House approved a bill to give American businesses the right to seek higher duties on subsidized Chinese products. GOP leaders supported the bill. The Central American pact will eliminate tariffs on 80 percent of U.S. exports to Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. Most imports from these countries now enter the U.S. duty-free. Bush and GOP lawmakers said the measure would guarantee a level playing field in trade by increasing exports to the region now estimated at about $15 billion a year. Alan Field can be reached at afield@joc.com. |