Uruguay is seeking broader access to the US market for its textiles, software and rice, officials said. Trade in biofuels, medicine and intellectual property rights are also on the agenda.

Bush arrived from Sao Paulo, Brazil, where tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets to protest the war in Iraq and the trade ties Bush came to promote.

Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez sniped at Bush from Argentina, where he gathered 35,000 protesters to listen to him taunt Bush as "political dead meat" and say "Gringo, go home" in English.

Talks with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva netted commitments to breathe life into moribund World Trade Organization talks and collaboration on promoting ethanol as an alternative fuel -- in part to cut US dependence on oil from countries like Chavez's Venezuela.

However, even members of Lula's own Workers Party took to the streets to protest Bush's presence and to demand less of his brand of free trade and more of Mercosur, a trade bloc comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Brazilians burned US flags outside the Sao Paulo hotel where Bush and Lula held talks Friday after visiting an ethanol depot.

When Bush arrived in Sao Paulo Thursday night, a massive peaceful march was under way, with anti-US slogans, while smaller groups of protesters hurled rocks at the US consulate and clashed with police.

He insisted the United States did not get enough credit "for trying to help improve people's lives."

"The American people care deeply about social justice ... we believe in education and health," he said. "We believe in supporting programs that help lift people out of their current conditions and we want to help."