Trade rivals heading to Costa Rica

Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress are taking their battle over trade to Costa Rica, where voters this weekend will decide whether to ratify a trade agreement with the U.S. already approved by Congress.

House GOP Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) on Tuesday blasted Democrats for encouraging voters in Costa Rica to reject the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), which is in effect between the U.S. and five other countries in the region.

{mosads}Blunt said Democrats were providing inducements to Costa Ricans to reject the deal by suggesting unilateral trade preferences offered by the U.S. on most Costa Rican products would be retained indefinitely. This is “a clear effort to dissuade the nation from adopting a formal trade agreement,” said Blunt, who noted the promise was coming from members who opposed CAFTA.

Blunt’s statement noted that Rep. Mike Michaud (D-Maine) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), both prominent CAFTA critics, visited Costa Rica last month in what Blunt termed was an effort to help groups opposed to the trade deal.

Separately, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), in a Sept. 28 letter to Costa Rica’s ambassador to the U.S., said future trade preferences for Costa Rica would not be linked to the referendum.

“Participation in CBI [the Caribbean Basin Initiative, a trade-preference program for Central American nations] is not conditioned on a country’s decision to approve or reject a free-trade agreement with the United States, and we do not support such a linkage,” the letter said, according to Bloomberg News.

CAFTA was opposed by most House Democrats when Congress approved it in 2005. Only 15 Democrats voted in favor of the deal.