Shouldn't let this go unnoticed. From the New York Times:
After a bitter and prolonged battle over the promises and perils of foreign trade, the Senate voted on Thursday to approve the Central American Free Trade Agreement.
The vote of 54 to 45, which came after weeks of efforts to placate angry sugar producers and other interest groups, was a major victory for President Bush at a time when Republicans and Democrats alike have been alarmed about soaring imports from low-cost countries...
The pact would eliminate most trade restrictions on about $32 billion in annual trade with the Dominican Republic and the five Central American nations of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua.
Success in the Senate did not come without the usual unpalatable compromise of, course:
To placate sugar producers, White House officials agreed to limit imports for another two years by paying Central American producers not to export to the United States. The United States would pay with surplus farm products accumulated through its other subsidy programs.
In case the administration's broader agenda is in doubt:
"This is a gateway to other agreements," said Rob Portman, the United States trade representative. "If this agreement goes down, it will signal to the rest of the world that America's leadership role in trade is being abdicated."
It won't be easy:
The vote set the stage for an even more difficult fight in the House, where opposition to the trade pact is strong among lawmakers from textile regions in the South, manufacturing states in the Midwest and sugar- producing areas like Florida, Louisiana, Minnesota and Wyoming...
Democratic lawmakers, including many who voted to open up trade with China and to pass the North American Free Trade Agreement, were overwhelmingly opposed to the Central American trade pact.
Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota, charged that the agreement offered little to ensure that Central American nations would enforce their own labor and environmental laws...
Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, who voted for the North American Free Trade Agreement and walked a very careful line during last year's presidential campaign, called the deal a "giant step backward."