(Washington D.C.)- Flexing his new clout, U.S. Rep. Sander Levin, D-Royal Oak, warned President Bush Monday to change his trade policies or expect to lose votes on four key trade agreements under way.

In his first speech since becoming the powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means' subcommittee on trade, Levin called for a new U.S. trade policy that shapes globalization by taming its disruptive impact on U.S. workers and industries while strengthening labor laws elsewhere to create consumers in poorer countries who have enough money to buy U.S. goods.

"The basic belief of many inside and outside of the Bush administration is that markets will work out their own deficiencies," Levin said.

"It has led to a passive not an active approach to many key trade issues, a strategy that I think locks in the shortcomings of the status quo. It is acquiescence in one-way trade, assuming one-way markets will eventually turn themselves into two-way streets," he said.

Bush spokeswoman Gretchen Hamel said the White House plans "healthy discussions" with Congress on labor standards.

"This debate for many years has been about how best to raise the labor standards and practices of our trading partners," said spokeswoman Hamel of the U.S. Trade Representative's office.

"The U.S. has strong labor laws and any agreements we enter into ought to recognize that. Our hope is that by working in good faith with members of Congress from both sides of the aisle we can find a way to bridge longstanding differences," she added.

Levin signaled that he and other lawmakers concerned about the negative fallout of global trade on American workers and businesses will use the newly gained clout from the Democratic takeover of Congress to force Bush to change course on trade.

He urged Bush to include basic labor standards set by the International Labor Organization in three pending Latin American trade agreements under way. These include the right to collective bargaining.

Otherwise, Levin predicted, the Democratic Congress will defeat three Latin American free trade agreements coming up for votes in coming months.

"They won't pass (in current form)" Levin said of pending trade deals with Peru, Colombia and Panama.

Levin also predicted the U.S.- Korean free trade agreement, which is currently in negotiations, will go down to defeat unless the Bush administration includes written benchmarks for South Korea to prove that it has opened up its historically closed market to foreign-made products.

"There has to be a meaningful formula," said Levin, explaining that South Korea sold 700,000 of its cars last year in the United States but imported only 4,000 U.S.-made vehicles.

"It's totally one-sided. And we have to find a formula that can measure results," Levin said of the U.S.-Korean trade talks.

Levin called on the president to respond forcefully against trading partners that put up trade barriers to U.S. products and manipulate their currency to make their products cheaper to U.S. consumers.

Levin predicted the House will pass a bill to crack down on currency manipulation, although he believes its fate is less certain in the Senate.

Specifically on China, he said the House and Senate likely will pass legislation to say China and other non-market economy countries are subject to U.S. laws allowing for countervailing duties to be imposed in response to unfair trade practices, such as countries dumping products at below market value.

Levin is holding a series of hearings on China that look at the impact of U.S.-China trade on U.S. jobs and the causes of the record-high trade deficit with the Asian economic giant. The U.S. trade deficit with China grew to $232.5 billion last year, up from $83.1 billion in 2001.

The Bush administration has filed three complaints under the World Trade Organization against China for alleged trade violations. But Levin said those steps are inadequate given what he sees as widespread unfair trade practices.

"This overall laxity (by the Bush administration toward China) is consistent with the underlying belief that markets should be left alone and will balance themselves," Levin said.

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