Seal the Chile Trade Deal

It’s payback time. At least that’s the privately expressed view of some White House staffers who are seeking to delay the completion of a free-trade agreement with Chile because of that small South American nation’s failure to support the U.S. stance on Iraq in the United Nations Security Council last month. President Bush should tell them to get over it.

Negotiations between the U.S. and Chile ended Dec. 11. It’s time to complete the deal.

The longer it takes to have the trade agreement in place, the more it hurts U.S. companies that have been waiting patiently to do business with Chile. Canada, Mexico and the European Union already have such a trade agreement and are grabbing the best business opportunities in that economically vibrant country.

Delaying the U.S.-Chile deal as a form of punishment would suggest that Washington doesn’t really take free trade seriously. And, since polls showed that 85% of Chileans opposed the U.N. resolution on Iraq that the U.S. was pushing for, it would raise similar questions about the Bush administration’s commitment to the principles of democratic rule.

Chilean President Ricardo Lagos tried to bridge the gap with Washington, working laboriously in conjunction with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Mexican President Vicente Fox to draft an alternative resolution for U.N. action in Iraq. Dozens of other otherwise-friendly countries didn’t even go that far. Indeed, unless it relents, one by one the U.S. will have to contend with nations around the globe that opposed its approach to toppling Saddam Hussein. Chile would be a good place to start showing magnanimity.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick hasn’t been shy about expressing his “disappointment” with Chile. But he has also said: “This is a free-trade agreement that we think is good for both countries. We think it’s in our economic interest.”

Bush knows that before the agreement comes up for a vote in Congress, there’s a lot of work to be done. Many provisions have to be reconciled with laws that govern everything from agriculture to intellectual property. That takes time.

This month, a bipartisan group of Congress members, among them Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Rep. Calvin M. Dooley (D-Visalia) wrote a letter to Bush urging him to sign the agreement.

“The sooner this agreement is signed,” they said, “the sooner we can begin that important work.” That’s forward-looking foreign policy.