U.S. Leaders Kick Off Latin American Tour : Trade: Delegation is led by Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown.

Accompanied by a delegation of U.S. corporate leaders, Secretary of Commerce Ronald H. Brown kicked off a five-city, three-country Latin trade mission Sunday by bringing American and Brazilian business people together in a series of meetings.

Brown, whose 22-member delegation includes the heads of such Fortune 500 companies as MCI, Hughes Aircraft, UNISYS Corp. and Comstat, also met in a closed-door session with ranking Brazilian officials and Raytheon President Dennis J. Picard to urge acceptance of a bid by Raytheon for a $1-billion government project to protect the Amazon.

Brown is the second Clinton Cabinet member to visit Latin America within a month. Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy last month toured Mexico, Argentina and Brazil, where he offered to sell American wheat with 98% financing in an effort to undercut sales efforts by Germany, Canada and Argentina.

Brown, whose tour also includes Argentina and Chile, said the trip reflects the U.S. commitment to increased trade between the United States and Latin America, currently America’s “fastest-growing export market.”

“American exports to Latin America have doubled since 1985, accounting for 900,000 American jobs,” Brown said. “By 2003, we think exports to Latin America will account for another 2 million jobs.”

Brown said the delegation chose to visit Brazil, Argentina and Chile because those three countries account for 45% of a regional economy that “is growing twice as fast as the European economy.”

“In short,” he said, “the Latin American economy is booming.”

Brown is concentrating most of his efforts in Brazil, which has struggled for the past 10 years with runaway inflation but still represents the world’s eighth-largest economy and 30% of the gross domestic product of Latin America. Brown stressed that Brazil must lower its trade barriers, privatize more of its industries, such as the government-run telecommunications industry, and pursue economic reform.

Brown said he hopes to end the visit with signed contracts between companies on the tour and South American companies. Of greatest importance, he said, is the Raytheon project.

Raytheon Co., a Lexington, Mass.-based defense contractor which produces the Patriot missile, is competing with a French consortium to provide air traffic control equipment, satellite and technicians to keep track of air traffic over Brazil’s Amazon forest to protect against environmental damage, poachers and drug traffickers.