U.S. President George W. Bush will discuss free trade with Panama's president, Martin Torrijos, on Monday. Thirty-four countries failed to reach agreement on the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas, or FTAA, during a weekend summit in Argentina, but Bush's first visit to Panama is a sign of his administration's varied strategy for opening up world markets. While the FTAA is stalled and worldwide trade talks are embroiled in thorny issues of farm subsidies, Bush has set his sights on individual countries that are eager to do business with the United States. Torrijos is a proponent of free trade and his country is in talks with the U.S. on a bilateral pact. Torrijos was a leader in trying to move along negotiations for the FTAA at the weekend talks. The Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA, was recently ratified by the U.S. Congress in a narrow vote after tough lobbying by the White House. Panama is not a part of CAFTA because Bush negotiated the pact with a pre-existing trading bloc of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. "CAFTA is important, and it makes sense for Panama to be considered to be a part of these trading agreements that are growing," Bush said last week in a preview of his trip.
