In one of his last acts as president, George Bush signed off on the Peru Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on January 16, declaring that Peru had met the conditions for implementation of the agreement.  Bush's authorization for implementation came despite strong cautions issued earlier in the week by House Democratic leaders that Peru has not met its promises to address worker rights concerns, including loopholes that open the door to the use of subcontracting as an anti-union tactic. The agreement will now come into force on February 1, 2009.

The Peru FTA, approved by Congress in late 2007, included improved protections for labor and the environment. At the time, many considered the improvements inadequate. Among others, Public Citizen denounced Mr. Bush's January 16 action, stating that Peru's refusal to bring its law labor laws up to international labor standards and a gutting of its forestry law "shows more improvements are needed to the labor and environmental provisions of the U.S. trade agreement model."

Peru rushed through laws earlier this month to address some concerns about health, intellectual property, and environment issues but did not address labor issues. The Peru government pushed for Bush's authorization before January 20, fearing that approval would be indefinitely delayed under the Obama Administration.