31.   But those discussing the issue of a new trade pact say it is not about to go away.

32.   But wines from Chile, a major competitor, will enter Mexico duty-free beginning next year under a separate trade pact.

33.   By contrast, business backing for the trade pact is monolithic.

34.   By the end of the next year, Mercosur and the European Union are to start formal talks on a trade liberalization pact.

35.   Clinton hopes to use the new power to negotiate trade pacts in South America and Southeast Asia, beginning with a free trade pact with Chile.

36.   Clinton has requested Congress give him so-called fast-track authority to negotiate trade pacts, especially with Latin America and Asia.

37.   Colleagues opposed to normalized trade with China are warning that it will be the political mistake of his life should he approve the trade pact.

38.   Clinton won campaigns for past trade pacts that started with lackluster public support.

39.   Countries in Asia are also moving rapidly to pin down bilateral trade pacts.

40.   Congress last year refused to grant the president the unilateral power to negotiate trade pacts, in part out of concern with NAFTA.