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WASHINGTON : President-elect Barack Obama asked President George W. Bush during a White House meeting for immediate aid for the struggling US auto industry, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.
During their private meeting, Bush said he could support some aid in exchange for approval of a free-trade agreement with Colombia, the Times said, citing unnamed people familiar with the discussion.
However, neither Obama nor Democrats in Congress -- who been blocking the trade pact -- seem willing to bend on Colombia, the Times wrote.
US labor leaders oppose the agreement in protest over numerous murders of trade unionists in Colombia at the hands of right-wing paramilitary squads who, critics say, are often closely linked to the Colombian armed forces.
The Bush administration is reluctant to give US automakers access to its 700 billion dollar financial bailout fund -- even though Democrats say the law authorising the fund gives Washington the authority to do so.
Separately, the Times reported, Obama has told automakers and unions that help from his incoming administration will hinge on how willing they are to make cleaner, more energy-efficient vehicles.
Just how bad a situation the US automakers face was hammered home last Friday when General Motors -- the biggest US automaker -- reported a 2.5 billion dollar net loss for the third quarter.
That brought to nearly 57 billion dollars its losses since the beginning of 2005.
Ford Motor Company's 129 million dollar quarterly loss, meanwhile, brought to nearly 24.5 billion dollars the deficit it has run up since plunging into the red in 2006.
The privately-held Chrysler LLC is also thought to be fast running out of cash -- one reason, analysts believe, why its parent, Cerberus Capital Management, was so eager to sell Chrysler to General Motors.
On Monday, General Motors chief executive Rick Wagoner warned that GM is so strapped for cash that it needs to line up a federal aid package before Obama takes office on January 20.
- AFP /ls
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