TRADE : Key Senator Assails Administration on Mexico Talks : Policy: Montana’s Baucus says that environmental and job-loss concerns are being ignored. He threatens to oppose the free trade pact.

The chairman of the Senate’s trade subcommittee accused the Bush Administration on Thursday of failing to take environmental concerns and U.S. worker displacement into account as it negotiates a free trade agreement with Mexico.

Using unusually harsh language, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) told reporters that when he has pressed U.S. Trade Representative Carla Anderson Hills on those two issues, “I get glazed eyes and a blank look.”

“I just don’t get the sense that they are addressing the major concerns that a lot of us have,” said Baucus, whose role as chairman of the Senate Finance subcommittee on trade makes him an influential voice in U.S. trade policy.

The free trade negotiations, which also involve Canada, have been underway since last year and could conclude this summer. Congress is not expected to vote on the agreement until after this fall’s election.

Many environmental groups have contended that by spurring industrial growth in Mexico, a free trade agreement will worsen that country’s already severe pollution problems. Organized labor has warned that an agreement will encourage U.S. industry to move its operations south of the border, eliminating high-paying American jobs.

Kathy Lydon, a spokeswoman for Hills, said that Baucus’ comments were “an unfair complaint at this point.”

Lydon said that environmental issues were being handled through separate negotiations. Job-loss concerns, she added, could not be addressed until the exact terms of the agreement become clear and enabling legislation is drafted.

Hills “has spent more time on (Capitol Hill) consulting on these and other issues than any other Cabinet officer,” Lydon said.

Baucus agreed that Hills has met often with lawmakers, but said she has provided only “general” answers to their questions. “I feel I do not know what’s going on,” he said.

“I think she’s done a good job, frankly,” Baucus added. “She’s got to work with Treasury, State, a lot of other points of view. She’s not her own boss.”

Baucus, who supported the legislation that allowed the talks to begin, said he would not vote for the final agreement unless it adequately addresses those fears. He has proposed what he calls a “free trade trust fund,” in which a fee of 0.5% or less would be imposed on imports and new investments and used to pay for costs associated with free trade.

The senator also accused the Administration of “playing politics” with the agreement, hoping it will divide and embarrass Democrats shortly before the election.

In particular, he said, border state lawmakers will be under intense pressure to support it, on the idea that it will bring economic growth to their region, while midwestern and eastern state politicians will be equally pressed to oppose it.