U.S. free trade changes completed before Saturday deadline

The Bush administration has been very busy this past week taking care of free trade pacts with several countries before the president loses his “fast track” authority over agreements.

Several countries in the Americas have arrived to agreements this week with the U.S. government:

• On Wednesday, Peru’s legislature overwhelmingly approved several amendments that were reached on Monday.
• The U.S. House of Representatives agreed to an eight month extension of a free trade deal with four Andean states.
• The U.S. and Panama signed its free trade pact yesterday.
• The Bush administration and Colombia agreed to several amendments to their trade deal.

Democrats have been pushing the Bush administration to amend existing free trade deals rather than creating new ones.

Sources- International Herald Tribune, Guardian UK, Forbes, Bloomberg, Reuters AlertNet

Image- ABC News Online