The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) pushed Congress to give swift backing to a Colombian Free Trade Agreement that President Bush just sent to Capitol Hill.

AIA also hopes Bush will push through free trade deals with Panama and South Korea before he leaves office in January.

While Bush will be leaving, however, little change in U.S. trade policy is expected in the next administration, no matter which party wins the White House in November.

The Colombian deal would cut tariffs on traded goods, if ratified by Congress by a 90-day statutory deadline.

Bush said he sent the free trade legislation to Congress now to lessen chances that the measure might die for lack of action when Congress adjourns later this year.

Congress should approve the Colombian deal for national security reasons, Bush said, to help support the Colombian government, since it is fighting crime, drugs and terrorism.

He was joined at a ceremony sending the measure off to Congress by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

Bush added that the bill, by lowering tariffs on some U.S. goods shipped to Colombia, would help U.S. workers. On the other hand, he said, for U.S. workers who lose their jobs because of free trade, they should be retrained for other jobs.

"Congress should approve this trade promotion agreement as soon as possible," AIA President and CEO Marion Blakey said. "This vital agreement will not only advance U.S. interests abroad and boost jobs at home, it will also underscore our nation’s commitment to stability and economic prosperity in a strategically important region."

According to AIA, the aerospace industry provides more than 642,000 high-paying jobs across the nation and accounted for a $57 billion positive foreign trade balance last year, the highest of any U.S. manufacturing sector. The industry exported an estimated $92.5 billion in aerospace products last year.

AIA is a member of the Latin America Trade Coalition, a broad-based group of more than 700 U.S. companies and business organizations working to secure congressional approval of trade agreements with Colombia and Panama.