Democratic House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the pact flanked by key members of President George W. Bush's Republican administration, including Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and US Trade Representative Susan Schwab.

President George W. Bush said the deal "provides a clear path for advancing our proposed free trade agreements with Peru, Colombia, Panama, and South Korea."

"Expanding opportunities for the sale of American goods and services is crucial to continued growth and job creation here in America," Bush said.

"While these agreements will move forward independently, my administration is committed to working with members of Congress and with the governments of our free-trade agreement partners to secure the approval of each agreement," he said.

The deal would require pending free-trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, Peru and South Korea to include five core International Labor Organiz-ation standards incorporated in the 1998 ILO Declaration: the right to organize; the right to bargain collectively; prohibitions on forced labor; protections against child labor; and freedom from employment discrimination.

It also requires the United States and all the four pending free-trade partners to adopt laws to implement the obligations in seven multilateral environmental agreements to which they are parties.

Those pacts include the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and the Montreal Protocol on Ozone Depleting Substances.

The pact sets standards on intellectual property, port security and the environment, including a demand that Peru fight illegal logging.

Pelosi said the deal was a "historic occasion," and reflected the will of the US people, as anger at the flight of jobs overseas to low-cost, developing economies was a factor in the Democratic takeover of Congress last November.

Democrats have pushed for trade deals to address environmental and social issues like protection of workers' right to organize and a ban on child labor.

"Today marks a new day in trade policy so that we can raise living standards in the US and abroad, expand markets, spur economic growth and uphold strong labor and environmental standards," Pelosi said.

"Free trade must be fair trade. For that reason, the inclusion of basic, internationally recognized labor and environmental standards in our trade agreements have been long-standing Democratic priority," she said.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Senator Max Baucus said the deal was a "landmark" in US trade history.

"This is the first time that trade agreements will include enforceable, international, recognized core environmental and labor provisions," Baucus said.

The agreement "gives us a chance to make our trade pacts better deals for US workers, by preventing our trading partners from using substandard labor and environmental practices to unfairly cheapen prices for their goods and services."

"It is our hope that this deal can pave the way for a solid majority of members to vote in favor of renewing trade promotion authority and passage of bilateral agreements with Peru, Colombia, Panama, and Korea," said Tom Donohue, president and chief executive of the US Chamber of Commerce.

Frank Vargo, vice president of international economic affairs at the National Association of Manufacturers, cautiously welcomed the agreement.

"We are encouraged by the progress announced today, but reserve comment on the final package until we have had an opportunity to examine the details," he said.