INCREASED TRADE COMBATS DRUG-TRAFFICKING

Think of President Bush's four-day trip to Latin America last weekend as
the first half of a two-part challenge. Part One was an unqualified
success: Bush visited the area and spelled out his vision for Latin
American prosperity.

Part Two will be more difficult: Persuading a recalcitrant Congress,
specifically the Democratic-majority Senate, to approve the
administration's proposals for boosting trade with Latin America.

President Bush's vision for the region isn't new or novel. However, it can
be a balm to Latin America's woes, which have been worsened in some areas
by drug trafficking, continuing poverty, government corruption, political
unrest and natural disasters.

The president believes that increased aid should be linked to political,
economic and social reforms. On his brief tour, Bush pitched the gospel of
prosperity and democracy as an antidote to drug trafficking, terrorism and
instability that plague some Latin American nations.

At the United Nations summit in Mexico, Bush promised to increase aid to
the world's poor by 50 percent, to $15 billion annually from $10 billion in
accordance with recipient countries' willingness to tackle corruption,
reform their economies, engage democratic practices and help their own
people. And in talks with President Vicente Fox of Mexico, Bush discussed
plans for improved border security, private investments by U.S. firms and
an overhaul of U.S. immigration policy to allow for a more orderly flow of
Mexican immigrants into this country.

The next step for Bush is to persuade Senate Democrats to approve
legislation that would allow for a Free Trade Area of the Americas and
extend U.S. trade preferences for Andean countries. Free trade and the
trade-preference legislation has been approved by the House, but are
stalled in the Senate, where Democrats have a one-vote majority. President
Bush was persuasive in Latin America. We wish him well as he now tries
those charms on the Senate.