Alan M. Dunn, the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Import Administration, said the pact did not represent the result of any election-year pressures.

The pact with Central America would represent a tiny fraction of American trade, which reached $2.3 trillion last year.

The pact represents a more abrupt adjustment for Mexico, where trade barriers were higher than in the United States.

Still, the pact represents the first formal dealings between Moscow and South Africa's best-known corporation.

The pact represents the union's second consecutive four-year contract granting concessions to USX, formerly the United States Steel Corporation.

The pact represents a basic shift in American policy toward the former Soviet republics.

According to Anthony Sullivan, the pact represents Islam's interest in human rights and protection of such rights.

But the pact also represents a significant victory for Mr. Giuliani.

The written pact represents the newest chapter in John Henry and Claudia Williams's fight with their half sister, Barbara Joyce Williams Ferrell.

For the unions, the pact would represent the first time in 15 years in which a contract did not include at least a one-year wage freeze.