Media attention turned on North Carolina, as President Bush flew in to drum up support for the long awaited free trade pact with the Central American nations. Rep. Sue Myrick, R-NC, the only one of North Carolina's 13-member House delegation to publicly endorse the measure, accompanied the President during his visit.
But for opponents in his audience, the cynical attitude was more pronounced as only one object occupied their mind and it was mounting job losses in the textile belt of America.
Yet, President Bush seems to hard sell CAFTA saying the pact will bring in more jobs that sets up free trade with five Central American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua including the Dominican Republic.
Back in the textile belt, Bush toured the R.L. Stowe Mills plant in Belmont and was seen standing around giant spools of white cotton thread and bales of raw cotton.
Speaking at Gaston Community College, he openly sought support for the treaty juxtaposing trade pact promotion with the ongoing war on terror and the conflict in Iraq saying, “We will complete the mission.”
Speaking reassuringly he said 25 consecutive months of jobs gains had been observed and called CAFTA as “a historic opportunity” to take advantage of the recovering economy.
He termed CAFTA as “good deal for workers, farmers and the industry,” and added the measure would assist emerging democracies in Central America.
Egging the audience he said, “Central America is the second-largest market in the world for our textile products. So if you're a textile worker, it seems to me you ask, where do we sell our textiles?”
-Ltd..jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Thermore (Far East) Ltd.")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited (TSllC Ltd)")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF)")
