LIMA (Peru) - FROM the podium of his final global summit, US President George W. Bush sharply assailed US lawmakers on Saturday for failing to approve free trade deals with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea.

'It is extremely disappointing that the United States Congress adjourned without passing these three good agreements,' he said in a speech to leaders assembled in Lima for an annual Asia-Pacific gathering.

'And I urge all those who support free trade to continue in pressing the case for the Congress to pass free trade agreements with Colombia and Panama and South Korea,' said Mr Bush, who leaves office January 20.

US president-elect Barack Obama has called the South Korea deal 'badly flawed', and his fellow Democrats who control the US Congress have given no sign of softening their opposition to any of the accords.

Mr Bush met on Friday with Chinese President Hu Jintao and on Saturday with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum.

The talks carried 'a strong theme of concern about the possibility of protectionism and protectionist barriers being thrown up in the middle of this financial crisis,' said White House spokesman Dana Perino.

Mr Bush told Mr Lee 'he doesn't think that the Congress is delaying because they have a negative feeling about South Koreans, but that there is a backlash against free trade', she told reporters.

Mr Obama has charged that the April 2007 deal with South Korea does too little to narrow a huge imbalance in the auto trade in Seoul's favor.

South Korea shipped about 700,000 cars to the US last year while importing 5,000 American cars, official figures show.

In his speech, Mr Bush defended Colombia President Alvaro Uribe, whom Democrats accuse of doing too little to stem deadly violence against trade unionists in his country, citing that as a reason to reject the US-Colombia trade deal.

'I just had a chance to have a cup of coffee with President Uribe. He is a strong leader. He's a good friend. And our congress and our government must never turn our back on such a friend as Uribe,' the US president said.

After Mr Bush's talks with Harper, Ms Perino noted that Canada and Colombia had signed a free trade deal and 'Canada said that they are happy to take all of the business we want to pass up'.

On Friday, Mr Bush's lead Latin America adviser at the White House, Mr Dan Fisk, argued that the European Union's plans for free trade talks with Colombia highlighted the danger of US firms losing markets to global competitors.

'I mean, it just seems to me that's a logical question people ought to be asking their elected representatives, which is, 'what about us?'' he said.

Asked aboard Mr Bush's presidential Air Force One airplane about the prospects for passage of the agreement, Mr Fisk declined to speculate but said: 'Never say die.'

Mr Fisk said 'abuses have still continued' in Colombia but that the overall picture is much brighter than it was 10 years ago - before US aid and Mr Uribe's leadership put the country on the right path.

Mr Uribe, who recently sacked military officials over alleged ties to unlawful killings, has given 'no quarter when there has been serious allegations of human rights abuses', he said.

Colombia's top labour unions say that 474 trade unionists have been murdered since Mr Uribe took office six years ago, that nearly all the murder cases have gone unsolved and that the president's policies have directly harmed trade unions. -- AFP