Bush supports free trade during Latin America trip

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador -- President Bush promised Sunday to push for free-trade policies for economically strapped Latin America and said the United States "is wide open" to buy goods from around the world. \nWinding up a journey to Mexico, Peru and El Salvador, Bush also pledged to promote immigration policies that link workers from the region with American jobs. \nBush said it was in the best interests of the United States to have a "prosperous and peaceful" Latin America, a region known for decades of civil war, poverty and strife. \nTrade, Bush said, will "reinforce the region's progress toward political, economic and social reform." \nBush said trade between El Salvador and the United States approaches $4 billion a year.\n"Trade means jobs. Trade means that people who want to work are more likely to find jobs," Bush said. "We're going to continue to pursue the Free Trade of the Americas (agreement), which aims to encompass the entire hemisphere." \nBush also rejected Democratic criticism of his trip. Antonio Villaraigosa, a former speaker of the California state Assembly, said Saturday the trip was aimed at currying favor with Hispanics in the United States. \nThe president said he was disappointed with the remarks. \n"Sometimes in Washington, D.C., people cannot get rid of old habits, which is petty politics," he said. \nBush's new free-trade pitch came just days after he slapped new tariffs on steel and softwood lumber imported to the United States. Those retaliations came in part because the administration concluded foreign governments were unfairly subsidizing those industries. \nAsked about U.S. subsidies for agricultural produce that hurt smaller countries, Bush said he could do little about such programs approved by Congress. \nBut, he said, "Our market's wide open." \nSalvadoran President Francisco Flores and his wife, Lourdes, met Bush and first lady Laura Bush on their arrival. Hundreds of military personnel in their ceremonial uniforms stood at attention. \nBush greeted his counterpart with an embrace and Mrs. Flores with a kiss. \nOn the eve of his visit, Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, said the president was promoting trade and democracy. \nBush was spending just less than six hours in the country. But it was time enough "to really celebrate a region that 10, 15 years ago, nobody would have given a chance to be living at peace," Rice said ahead of the stop.