Bush backers admit: CAFTA not a free trade pact.(INSIDER REPORT)(Free Trade Agreement, 2004, United States-Central America-Dominican Republic)(George W. Bush)

In a May 31 White House press conference, President Bush declared that there is a "geopolitical, as well as economic, concern for CAFtA"--specifically, the need to "support young democracies [in the region]. And that's going to be important." Implicit in that claim is the idea that CAFTA--rather than being a "free" trade pact--is actually a disguised form of foreign aid intended to benefit the governments of El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic. This in turn would mean that those governments would be exporting to the U.S., rather than importing more goods produced here.

As THE NEW AMERICAN has repeatedly pointed out, Republican proponents of CAFTA invariably recite some version of the administration's argument that the agreement is needed to support "young democracies" in the region--without admitting what this portends for our own economic health. Confirmation of our analysis is now available in a remarkably candid pro-CAFTA essay published by the Center for Security Policy (CSP), a Washington-based think-tank closely aligned with the Bush administration.

In a June 2 "Decision Brief" entitled ...