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CNN Live At Daybreak

Bush Will Focus on Three Regional Issues In Trip to Latin America

Aired March 21, 2002 - 05:04   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush will focus on three key regional issues during his Latin American trip.

CNN Senior White House Correspondent John King explains how the timing of the Bush agenda changed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This trip offers a reminder of how much September 11 put the brakes on President Bush's plans for a heavy early emphasis on relations within the hemisphere. Immigration, trade and drug trafficking are among the list of difficult issues as Mr. Bush travels first to Mexico and then on to El Salvador and Peru.

ALLAN WAGNER, PERUVIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: President Bush's trip to South America is a very clear indication is that after that emergency situation now, President Bush has taken again his Latin American agenda.

KING: Incomplete is the best grade Mr. Bush could get for advancing the ambitious agenda he outlined early on when he made the symbolic gesture of picking Mexico for his first trip outside the United States as president. Sweeping immigration reform was one promise and Congress does appear on track to allow thousands of illegal immigrants to remain in the United States while applying for legal status. But it is far from the broad new guest worker program Mr. Bush wants.

MICHAEL SHIFTER, INTER-AMERICAN DIALOGUE: I think realistically it's very hard to see that the momentum that was building before September 11 can be really sustained, at least in the short-term. I think there's more caution in the United States.

KING: Mr. Bush will promise regional leaders to reinvigorating his ambitious but now stalled trade agenda. A law granting Andean nations duty-free import status expired in December and is awaiting renewal in Congress. Also pending is legislation granting Mr. Bush broad powers to negotiate a hemisphere wide free trade deal to be modeled on the North American Free Trade Agreement already in place with Canada and Mexico.

The Peru stop will highlight not only the new administration of President Alejandro Toledo, but a troubling recent increase in coca production. And drug trafficking is a subplot to discussions about allowing Colombia to use U.S. military assistance meant for the war on drugs to combat a guerrilla insurgency.

SHIFTER: The presence should be in terms of support, in terms of aid and training. I don't see any justification or reason for U.S. troops. That would, of course, make Latin Americans very uneasy.

KING: White House aides acknowledge that regional leaders are frustrated that the president's lofty early promises have not been realized. They say Mr. Bush will make clear his ambitions are unchanged and ask for patience as he deals with a changed domestic political climate.

John King, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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