Associated Press President Bush and President Francisco Flores of El Salvador, left, walk as they take part in the arrival ceremony at Compalapa International Airport yesterday in San Salvador, El Salvador. Bush carried free-trade promises to Central America yesterday, looking to reward the region's young and peaceful democracies - unthinkable just a decade or so ago - by creating a commercial corridor linking them to the United States.

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - President Bush promised yesterday to push for free-trade policies for economically strapped Latin America and said the United States "is wide open" to buy goods from around the world.

Winding up a journey to Mexico, Peru and El Salvador, Bush also pledged to promote immigration policies that link workers from the region with American jobs.

Bush said it was in the best interests of the United States to have a "prosperous and peaceful" Latin America, a region known for decades of civil war, poverty and strife.

Trade, Bush said, will "reinforce the region's progress toward political, economic and social reform."

Bush said trade between El Salvador and the United States approaches $4 billion a year. "Trade means jobs. Trade means that people who want to work are more likely to find jobs," Bush said.

"We're going to continue to pursue the Free Trade of the Americas (agreement), which aims to encompass the entire hemisphere," he said.

Bush also rejected Democratic criticism of his trip. Antonio Villaraigosa, a former speaker of the California state Assembly, said Saturday the trip was aimed at currying favor with Hispanics in the United States.

The president said he was disappointed with the remarks.

"Sometimes in Washington, D.C., people cannot get rid of old habits, which is petty politics," he said.

Bush's new free-trade pitch came just days after he slapped new tariffs on steel and softwood lumber imported to the United States. Those retaliations came in part because the administration concluded foreign governments were unfairly subsidizing those industries.

Asked about U.S. subsidies for agricultural produce that hurt smaller countries, Bush said he could do little about such programs approved by Congress.

But, he said, "Our market's wide open."

Salvadoran President Francisco Flores and his wife, Lourdes, met Bush and first lady Laura Bush on their arrival. Hundreds of military personnel in their ceremonial uniforms stood at attention.

Bush greeted his counterpart with an embrace and Mrs. Flores with a kiss.

On the eve of his visit, Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, said the president was promoting trade and democracy.

Bush was spending just under six hours in the country. But it was time enough "to really celebrate a region that 10, 15 years ago, nobody would have given a chance to be living at peace," Rice said ahead of the stop.

Over a quick lunch with the leaders of El Salvador, Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras and Panama, Bush planned to underscore his intent to make the long climb toward a U.S.-Central America free trade agreement.

As he said Saturday in Peru, "I believe strongly that if we promote trade, and when we promote trade, it will help workers on both sides of this issue. ... I mean, the best way for people to get lifted out of poverty is a job. And the best way to encourage jobs is through trade."

Critics say two new tariffs imposed by the United States this month raised questions about Bush's oft-stated commitment to free trade in the Americas.

The Bush administration on Friday imposed tariffs totaling 29 percent on Canadian softwood lumber for what the Commerce Department said was unfair trading practices.

Also this month, the United States clamped tariffs of up to 30 percent on several types of imported steel. The decision angered Brazil, which exported $726 million worth of steel products to the United States last year.

A special trade pact between Central America and its giant neighbor to the North remains just an idea.

Formal talks have yet to begin, or even be planned, and other trade agreements already in the works offer little by way of promising precedent.

Work on creating the hemisphere-wide Free-Trade Area of the Americas agreement that President Clinton proposed in 1994 is proceeding toward its 2005 target date for completion. But as long as Congress stubbornly withholds special negotiating authority for the president, would-be partners in the FTAA remain skeptical about its prospects.

The trade promotion authority for Bush passed the House last year but is bottled up in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Bush sees trade as the "next phase" of progress for a region that, not long ago, was wracked by war and revolution, Rice said.

"The president has a very warm spot in his heart for the Central American presidents who, despite very, very difficult odds, where most of them were living in countries that were in civil war just a few years ago, are really making a tremendous effort to make life better for their people," Rice said.