Bush Vows to Fight for Free-Trade Agreement : Diplomacy: He discusses proposal with Salinas. It would link U.S., Mexican and Canadian economies.

HOUSTON —  President Bush, after a brief “refueling-stop summit” with Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, said Sunday that he will go “head on head” against organized labor and others who oppose a free-trade agreement with Mexico.

“We have some tough opponents,” Bush said, singling out “some elements in organized labor” that fear losing jobs to Mexico. “They are wrong,” Bush said, “and I’m going to take them on head on head, because I know this is in the best interest of our country.”

The meeting between the two presidents at a military airfield here lasted only half an hour. It was scheduled to coincide with the refueling of Salinas’ plane as he flew from Mexico City to Ottawa, where he plans to meet with Canadian leaders about that country’s participation in the proposed free-trade zone of the three nations.

Bush himself referred to the visit as a “refueling stop.” After their meeting, he and Salinas called a short press conference to rebut arguments made by U.S. opponents of the free-trade proposal. Bush has made free trade a major priority of his Administration and, in recent months, it has been virtually the only issue to pierce his otherwise single-minded focus on the Middle East.

Free trade will “create jobs and provide opportunities for the citizens of both our countries,” Bush insisted. And he warned that “the credibility of the United States as a trading partner is on the line” as Congress prepares to vote on trade legislation later this spring.

Salinas, for his part, spoke of two important political issues within the U.S.--Mexican immigration and environmental problems in his country.

A free-trade agreement, he said, would “prevent thousands and millions of Mexicans from having to come to the United States looking for a job.” And he promised that any “new employment” resulting from the trade arrangement “will have to abide by very stringent laws to protect the environment.”

Several leading environmental groups in the United States have charged that the trade pact would allow American companies to move their operations south of the border to evade anti-pollution laws. Salinas conceded that Mexico has “much to do” to improve environmental regulations but insisted he is “committed to a clean environment.”

“We don’t want our children to paint (pictures of) the sky gray--without any stars because they can’t see the stars,” he said.

Recent easing of restrictions on U.S.-Mexican trade has added 250,000 jobs to the American economy over the last three years, he said. And, he added, a free-trade pact would make the U.S. economy more competitive. “It is not a matter of losing jobs to Mexico, but of spending the rest of your life buying Japanese or European products,” Salinas said.

A formal free-trade proposal, linking the U.S., Mexican and Canadian economies in what would be the largest free-trade zone in the world, still faces months of difficult negotiations. Administration officials say the entire process would be derailed if Bush were to lose a key vote on so-called “fast-track” rules on congressional consideration of trade proposals.

Under the fast-track system, any trade pact negotiated by the Administration is guaranteed a straight up or down vote in Congress. Otherwise, a trade agreement would be subject to unlimited amendments in Congress, and Administration officials say this would make negotiations with foreign governments impossible.

The fast-track rules allow U.S. officials “to assure our negotiating partners that the free-trade agreement that we conclude at the negotiating table will be the one that will be voted on by the Congress,” Bush said. “We need to negotiate in a way so that the people with whom we’re negotiating know that that is not going to be amended and changed.”

Congress faces a June 1 deadline for voting on an extension of the current fast-track rules.