Bloomberg Urges 'Open Mind' on Trade Deal

WASHINGTON — The speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, got an earful from Mayor Bloomberg yesterday on the issue of trade, days after she engineered a rule change to delay a vote on the Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

Mr. Bloomberg, a vocal advocate of free trade, said he pushed the Democratic speaker on the need to open markets and bring lower-cost goods to America. "I urged her to keep an open mind on the Colombian trade agreement and other trade agreements," the mayor told reporters here after a meeting that he said lasted nearly an hour.

Mr. Bloomberg did not criticize Mrs. Pelosi's move to hold up a vote on the Colombia deal, which has infuriated Republicans and the Bush administration. He said she told him that she "understands the need for trade."

"What she said is she's going to work as hard as she can to help this country, and that's what you want to hear from her," Mr. Bloomberg said. "That's her job." The mayor said he and Mrs. Pelosi also discussed his campaign against illegal guns, along with immigration, crime, and other issues. Earlier yesterday, Mr. Bloomberg testified before a congressional task force on illegal guns, urging lawmakers to take up legislation aimed at curbing the trafficking of firearms to criminals.

Separately, Mr. Bloomberg defended the administration's decision to quietly extend a portion of the city's sales tax — 1% — that was first enacted in the 1970s and set to expire this year. The move has drawn heavy criticism from a former deputy mayor in the Giuliani administration, Joseph Llota, who says it came with no public debate. "We have to pay the bills," Mr. Bloomberg said. As for why there wasn't more discussion, he pointed to Albany, which had to approve the tax. "I would love to tell you that Albany works that way — that you have lots of discussions," he said. "But those are not the kinds of deliberations that go on."