The Uphill Fight to Approve Cafta.

It is one of history's enduring truths: Times of economic uncertainty breed mistrust of the worker somewhere else, and resistance to government free-trade efforts. Which makes now an awkward time for the Bush administration to be pushing the Central American Free Trade Agreement.

President Bush this week will play host to the presidents of Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, as he seeks to build support for the pact in a somewhat unsupportive Congress.

On Capitol Hill, record U.S. trade deficits, concerns about lost jobs and "an overarching fear that the U.S. is losing out in the accelerated pace of global changes" have helped to shift sentiment away from approval, the New York Times says. Cafta faces unusually united Democratic opposition, critical Republicans that include Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, and problems overcoming hostility from sugar producers and most of the textile industry, the Times notes.

(5-11-05, The Wall Street Journal Online.)