Rangel, Levin walk fine line on Peru trade deal

Peru’s ambassador to the U.S. Said Friday that House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) want Peru to agree to changes to its labor rules before House consideration of a trade deal with that country.

{mosads} Ambassador Felipe Ortiz de Zevallos said Rangel and Levin want to be able to stress to their Democratic colleagues that they have taken care of concerns about Peru’s labor and environmental standards before asking members to support the free trade agreement.

Zevallos, who spoke to reporters at a luncheon sponsored by the National Foreign Trade Council, said Peru was happy with the terms of the deal negotiated with the Bush administration, but added that his country is also happy to accommodate Rangel and Levin on labor and environmental issues.

Rangel and Levin are under intense pressure from members of the Democratic Caucus who are unhappy with the terms of a deal they worked out with House Republicans and the Bush administration on a new template for trade deals. Rangel and Levin are supporting the Peru agreement, but it is unclear whether they will have a majority of their own party backing them. Trade unions are either opposed to or neutral on the deal.

The two are also under pressure from business groups, the administration and House and Senate Republicans to move the deals. On Monday, Senate Finance Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) will lead a trade rally for Peru and three other agreements with several administration officials.

Zevallos said Rangel has told Peruvian officials the deal will receive the highest majority they can imagine, but Zevallos said he is more concerned about having a House vote soon. “I’d rather have it sooner with a smaller majority than later with a greater majority,” he said.

Officials in Peru are negotiating with Democratic staff on the Ways and Means Committee on changes to presidential decrees implementing Peru’s labor laws that could clear the way for a House vote on Peru this fall.

“I think what Rangel has tried to do is work a path between the administration and the caucus so that there will be broad Democratic support,” said National Foreign Trade Council President Bill Reinsch, an official in the Clinton administration. In order to do that, he said Rangel has had to pay very close attention to dissenting voices within his party.

He predicted Democratic leadership would whip support for the Peru agreement, and suggested 100 to 150 House Democrats could support it.