Slow lane. (Trade Talk).

The logjam over trade promotion authority for U.S. President George Bush started to shift in late May. Then it settled into another jam. While Bush and the U.S. Congress profess support for free trade with Latin America, at press time the much-ballyhooed "fast-track" was stalled in its eighth year of debate. The measure would allow Congress to approve-but not alter-trade deals honed by the president. The latest impasse not only set back the Free Trade Area of the Americas and U.S. deals with Chile and Central America, it also claimed a victim: the Andean Trade Preferences Act. That tariff relief generating more than a billion dollars in extra commerce for struggling Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru since 1991, was designed as an incentive for countries working to stop drug trafficking. A five-month extension of the Andean Trade Preferences Act automatically expired May 16 when lawmakers failed to act on fast track. Immediately, companies that benefited from the duty-free relief found themselves facing tari ffs of more than 20%. Some exporters of flowers, chemicals, fish and produce said the delay could kill their companies. The U.S. Congress vowed to make the Andean tariff relief retroactive once fast track was approved. But the delay, combined with recent protectionism policies, has Latin American countries questioning U.S. commitment to free trade.