PROMOTING TRADE

President Bush needs more authority to work out trade agreements.

Such authority would let the president negotiate trade agreements and
submit them to Congress for approval or rejection, as is, within 90 days.
U.S. presidents had the authority from 1974 through 1994, but Congress took
it away from Bill Clinton.

As the Senate prepares to take up this issue, its leaders also wisely
included an act that gives trade preferences to Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and
Colombia.

The measure has become an invaluable weapon in the war on drug trafficking
and terrorism. Without free access to U.S. markets, Andean industries risk
getting squeezed out by the drug trade. And profits from narcotics are
bankrolling terrorist groups in the region, including the Marxist
guerrillas threatening Colombia.

Enhanced trade authority for the president will promote a safer and more
prosperous hemisphere. Those two reasons alone argue for swift Senate approval.