Reluctant to raise an issue that divided Democrats during last year's campaign, Mr. Clinton held off until last month before asking Congress to renew his increased trade-negotiating authority, known as fast track.

His aides said that Mr. Clinton cannot hope to achieve the tariff reductions outlined here unless Congress grants the President the new trade-negotiating authority that it withheld from him earlier this month.

If officials can agree on the outlines of an acceptable deal, negotiators for the United States will try to persuade Congress to extend the Bush administration's trade-negotiating authority, which is set to expire on June 30.

President Clinton has promised to try again to win trade-negotiating authority from Congress so that he can proceed with deals to open markets around the world.

A political milestone passed without comment last fall when President Clinton was trying unsuccessfully to persuade Congress to renew his fast-track trade-negotiating authority.

Senate Approves Bush Trade Bill The Senate voted to give President Bush expanded trade-negotiating authority, regaining a power that Congress stripped from the White House eight years ago.

Twice Shy on Trade The scant improvements in workers' rights under Nafta have created skepticism in the current debate for new trade-negotiating authority for the President.

The House Speaker, a Georgia Republican, promised that Congress would try again this September to give President Clinton expanded fast-track trade-negotiating authority - an issue that sharply divides Democrats.

They took that step to secure Democratic votes for a separate bill to grant Mr. Bush expanded trade-negotiating authority.

President Clinton managed to strike the elusive deals on testing and the census with Republican leaders as the White House struggled to gain enough House votes for the President's proposal to expand his trade-negotiating authority.