Associated Press President Bush displays a bruised left cheek as he waves upon arrival in East Moline yesterday. Bush suffered a slight injury to his face Sunday when he briefly passed out while watching a football game on television at the White House.

AURORA, Mo. - President Bush stumped across the Midwest yesterday with a pitch for increased trade and help for American farmers, weaving in Sept. 11 patriotism and insisting anew that any repeal or delay of his tax cut "would be a disaster for the American economy."

The president began a two-day trip through three states along the Mississippi River, a journey designed to illustrate how agriculture, manufacturing and exports join to help the economy. He made the trip with a red scrape on his cheek, an injury he says he got Sunday when he fainted after chewing a pretzel as he watched football on TV.

Bush said he felt fine and made light of the incident, joking about it at every stop and even sending reporters aboard Air Force One a huge bag of pretzels with a message scribbled on it in black marker: "From POTUS - Chew slowly." The initials stand for president of the United States.

He visited a John Deere factory in Moline, Ill. and a feed mill in Missouri to argue for expanded trade as a means of halting recession. He will head on to Louisiana today for a visit to the port of New Orleans, the last stop for many agricultural goods destined for overseas markets.

In Springfield, Mo., Bush told a crowd at an airport hangar that the United States is clearly able to grow more than enough food to feed its own people, and therefore, its farmers should be given a chance to put their products into more markets worldwide.

"Let us compete, and when we can compete in a fair way, we whip anybody when it comes to selling food," he said.

Later in Aurora, Bush called on Congress to approve a farm bill that encourages greater trading in U.S. agricultural products along five basic principles: That the government can afford it, that it does not lead to overproduction that can deflate prices, that it includes incentives for good conservation practices, that it supports "our strong commitment to trade," and that it establishes farm savings accounts.

"These are sound principles which will enable the American farmer to plan, to think ahead, to be able to survive in the down time and thrive when the markets get good," Bush said.

Bush vowed anew to oppose repeal or delay of the tax cuts enacted last year, saying, "That would be a disaster for the American economy, and we're not going to let it happen."

Congress last year passed Bush's long-term tax cut, but some Democrats now say that in the face of budget deficits, some of those cuts should be deferred - especially since so many people are now out of work due to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and need federal unemployment benefits.

Bush said he is willing to work with Congress to find ways to help the unemployed, "but I ask them to think long-term for America. It makes sense to speed up the tax relief."

Bush also put in a pitch for authority to negotiate "fast-track" trade agreements, which Congress could reject but not change. The Republican-controlled House passed such trade promotion authority by a deeply partisan 215-214 vote last month after the White House and Republican leaders persuaded GOP holdouts to change sides. The Democratic-controlled Senate is due to vote early this year.

After watching a load of Blue Ribbon Sweet Feed dropped from a towering storage facility into a holding container, Bush acknowledged that some farmers, skeptical of unfilled promises by presidents, may grouse, "Here comes old Bush from Texas, and he says he's for the farmer" when it comes to trade agreements, but assured he would be different.

"That's not the way it's going to be, folks, because I understand how important agriculture is," Bush said.