In addition to a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Colombia, the Bush Administration negotiated trade agreements in Latin America with Peru and Panama. 

The Peru agreement passed both houses of Congress in December 2007 but was not implemented immediately, pending Peru taking additional steps on labor and environmental concerns.  As one of its last acts, the Bush Administration authorized implementation of the agreement in mid-January 2009 despite Peru not taking adequate steps.  The agreement went into force on February 1, 2009.

The Panama agreement met a number of obstacles and did not come up for a vote during the Bush Administration.  The Obama Administration announced that it wanted to move the Panama FTA forward as quickly as possible in the spring of 2009.  In October 2011, the U.S. Congress voted to pass the Panama Free Trade Agreement, along with two other trade pacts with Colombia and South Korea.  

Like the Colombia FTA, the agreements with Peru and Panama are subject to a May 2007 Trade Deal which strengthens protections for workers when compared to previous trade agreements (e.g. CAFTA and NAFTA), but does not go far enough.  Despite the improved labor provisions, the AFL-CIO told Congress the Peru trade agreement remained deficient [1] and that it could not support the agreement when it came up for a vote in 2007.  Change to Win opposed the Peru free trade agreement [2] as well, offering a detailed objection.  Both letters cited objections other than the labor provisions, e.g. privileges for investors.

In addition, neither the Peru agreement, already implemented, nor the Panama FTA passed in October 2011, go far enough to strengthen protections for farmers, the environment, or consumers, and both have been opposed by the labor movements in their respective countries, as well as by the labor movement in the U.S.

USLEAP opposed the passage of agreements with both Peru and Panama.  For more information on these agreements, see the Citizens Trade Campaign [3] and Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch [4].