http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_ ... icle=54846

Lynch retracts NH support for CAFTA
By DENIS PAISTE
Union Leader Staff
Merchants Automotive Group

Gov. John Lynch last week wrote to the U.S. Trade Representative, Ambassador Rob Portman, reversing former Gov. Craig Benson's support for several recent or pending free trade agreements, in particular the Central America Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA.

"I am writing to let you know that New Hampshire will not be participating in the Panama and Andean Free Trade Agreements currently being negotiated," Lynch wrote in a May 11 letter to Portman.

Lynch declined to authorize the state to participate in trade agreements with Morocco, Australia, the nations of the Central America Common Market, the South African Customs Union and the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas.

The CAFTA agreement, first reached in December 2003 with four countries and expanded into a final deal last summer, would over 15 years eliminate most tariffs on industrial goods, consumer products and farm exports among its seven members â€â€