Bush Keeps Campaigning for Free Trade

Undeterred by a setback at the Summit of the Americas, President Bush on Sunday renewed his drive for hemispheric free trade, declaring that open markets would energize economies and foster social justice at a time when some in Latin America sought to “roll back the democratic progress of the past two decades.”

Bush did not name names, but senior administration officials said he was referring to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a fiery populist with Marxist leanings who blames the United States for a variety of ills in the region.

In a 22-minute speech to several hundred students, opinion leaders and businesspeople, Bush decried Latin American leaders who, he said, were “playing to fear, pitting neighbor against neighbor, and blaming others for their own failures to provide for their people.”

The president instead touted a “competing” vision based on “representative government, integration into the world community and a faith in the transformative power of freedom in individual lives.”

Bush arrived in the Brazilian capital after spending two days at the Summit of the Americas in Argentina, where key Latin American leaders -- including his host here, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva -- thwarted his bid to create a free-trade zone from Alaska to the tip of South America. During the summit, the democratically elected Chavez appeared at a massive anti-U.S., anti-globalization rally to gloat at Bush’s defeat. On Sunday, Bush met with Lula, and afterward both men described the U.S.-Brazilian relationship as strong and mutually beneficial.

“Our relations today are going through one of their best moments ever,” Lula said.

In renewing his plea for free trade, Bush said he would bow to Lula’s wishes that World Trade Organization talks at the so-called Doha round in December come first. Those negotiations are expected to create a framework to govern regional accords such as the Free Trade Area of the Americas, the stalled pact that would create a huge trade zone throughout the hemisphere.

“ ‘Look, let’s work together on Doha and see how that goes, and we will continue working on the free-trade agreement of the Americas,’ ” Bush quoted Lula as telling him.

“He’s got to be convinced,” Bush acknowledged.

After delivering their joint statements, Bush and Lula and their wives had what Bush later called “an unbelievably good barbecue,” which included beef, lamb and oxtail.

Although conservatives in the U.S. were alarmed by Lula’s election in 2002, fearful of a continental shift to the political left, the former lathe operator has generally pleased Wall Street and Washington by adhering to the economic policies of his center-right predecessor.

Bush on Sunday said he was impressed by Lula’s economic reforms. But Lula has also been aggressive in aligning with other developing countries, at times against U.S. interests. Brazil, a growing agricultural superpower, helped lead a successful challenge to U.S. cotton subsidies at the World Trade Organization. Lula’s government is contemplating mounting a similar challenge to U.S. soy subsidies.

In their meeting at Lula’s weekend retreat outside town, Lula brought up the issue of U.S. agricultural subsidies, and Bush later said he had heard the Brazilian president “loud and clear.” Bush added that the U.S. was embarked on a plan that would eliminate them over 15 years -- “so long as we get the same treatment from trading partners such as Europe.”

Earlier in the day, Bush met with 15 Brazilians described by the White House as “young leaders.”

One of them, Carlos Pio, a professor of international relations at the University of Brasilia, suggested that although many Latin Americans admire America’s economic and military might, Bush’s “somewhat missionary nature” in justifying international actions may be contributing to a love-hate relationship between Latin America and the United States.

After that first exchange, reporters were ushered out of the session, as scheduled.

Bush flew Sunday evening to Panama, where he is to meet today with Panamanian President Martin Torrijos, an ardent free-trade backer, and tour the Panama Canal before returning to the White House.

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Times staff writer Henry Chu in Rio de Janeiro contributed to this report.