WASHINGTON, Dec 15: The White House and Congress appear headed for a confrontation over trade deals with Colombia and South Korea next year as US presidential campaign heats up and labour groups dig in their heels on the two pacts.

President George W. Bush savoured one trade victory on Friday by signing an agreement with Peru into law.

The Republican president urged the Democrat-controlled Congress to quickly pass the South Korea pact and further strengthen ties with Latin America by approving trade deals with Colombia and Panama by strong bipartisan majorities.

“Across our hemisphere, people are watching what our Congress will do ... . The champions of false populism will use any failure to approve these trade agreements (with Colombia and Panama) as evidence America will never treat other democracies in the region as full partners,” Bush said at the signing ceremony.

The Senate and the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the Peru pact after it was revamped to include stronger labour and environmental provisions demanded by Democrats.

But senior Democrats, like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and many of the party’s presidential candidates, oppose the deals with Colombia and South Korea, even though they also were amended to include the new labour and environmental provisions.

The Democrats want Colombia to do more to curb violence against trade unionists and are pressing for changes in the provisions on automobiles in the South Korea pact, which they think favour Seoul too heavily.

The Bush administration argues that Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has made good progress in reducing violence in his country.

It also has ruled out renegotiating the auto provisions of the South Korean trade deal, which it says contains strong measures to level the playing field for US carmakers. Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said Peru was approved because the White House and Congress worked in a bipartisan fashion to address Democrats’ concerns.

“If administration officials want the South Korea and Colombia trade agreements to be approved by Congress, they must go back to that model and address serious concerns Democrats have with these agreements,” Daly said.

Peru’s President Alan Garcia says it would be a mistake for Congress to delay approving the Colombian pact.“I take upon myself the Latin American responsibility to request your Excellency and the US Congress to pass this agreement as soon as possible,” Garcia said shortly before Bush signed the Peru pact into law.

Some experts believe the Bush administration is prepared to force Congress to vote on both pacts if it cannot persuade Democratic leaders to take them up voluntarily.

That is an option because both agreements were signed -- although in the case of South Korea, just barely -- before the White House’s trade promotion authority expired on June 30.

Under that measure, Congress is required to vote yes or no on trade deals within 90 days of receiving them from the White House. Even though the law has expired, it still applies to the trade deals with Colombia and South Korea.— Reuters