WASHINGTON (AP) -- President-elect Obama suggested to President Bush that the administration immediately provide extra help to struggling U.S. automakers, aides to the Democrat say, in their first face-to-face meeting since Election Day.
Obama's aides said the president-elect brought up the issue with Bush during their two-hour White House talks on Monday, expressing his view that action is needed now, not just to help the U.S. companies but also the broader economy, because of their enormous reach. Bush repeated his position, recently stated by staff, that he is open to helping the automakers.
Also, amid discussions over whether a new economic stimulus measure is needed, Bush stressed that his main priority for any post-election action out of Congress is approval of a long-stalled free trade agreement with Colombia, said people familiar with the conversation between the two men. The sources declined to be named publicly because of the private nature of the talks.
Reflecting the delicate dance of a meeting between outgoing and incoming presidents -- one still in charge and one about to be -- neither man made direct requests of nor deal-making commitments to the other, even while each made sure the other knew what they want.
"In no way did president suggest that there was a quid pro quo," said White House press secretary Dana Perino. But, she added, "he did talk about the merits of free trade."
The Illinois senator's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said only that the discussion involved "the broad health of the industry" and was not just limited to any one of the three largest car makers.
White House press secretary Dana Perino said that Bush described the meeting as "constructive, relaxed and friendly," covering unspecified problems at home and abroad, and said he personally pledged a smooth transition.
There clearly is momentum building for some new aid to automakers.
In September, Congress approved $25 billion in loans to automakers to help them retool plans to build more fuel-efficient vehicles, and thus become more solid and profitable competitors in the global marketplace. Though the administration is working to give automakers quick access to that money, it still would likely not come fast enough -- or in big enough amounts -- to satisfy the drowning companies.
Over the weekend, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asked the administration to consider expanding the $700 billion bailout for financial firms to include car companies. The administration has concluded the law doesn't allow automakers to be eligible under the main, stock-purchase part of the program.
"We don't see anything in there that would give us the authority to help individual industries," Perino said. "We have gone as far as we can with the authority given us."
At a news conference last Friday, Obama called automakers "the backbone of American manufacturing" and said he hoped the administration would "do everything it can to accelerate the retooling assistance." Perino said Monday it was open to that, and would listen to lawmakers' ideas for making more loans available or for clarifying the bailout law to make clear that other industries beyond banks qualify.
The debate comes as General Motors, Ford and Chrysler are burning through cash and bleeding jobs. Analysts are predicting that G.M., in particular, might not last the year without a government bailout.
The president and Obama also talked about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and financial crisis. At the same time, Laura Bush and Michelle Obama talked about raising daughters in the nation's most famous house. Then Obama flew back to Chicago to work on setting up the new administration that he will take over in just 10 weeks' time.
The 43rd president and the man who will be the 44th -- and first black -- commander in chief met alone in the Oval Office, with no handlers or staff. It was Obama's first time in the storied workspace, even though he had been to the White House previously for events.
Such White House meetings have a history going back decades, and the public emphasis of the day was the comity and cooperation that has been evident between the Bush and Obama teams since last week's election, despite the harsh anti-Bush component of Obama's presidential bid.
But there are lingering tensions.
Bush and Obama met as the main transition news of the day was the Democratic team's preparations to rescind many of the incumbent's executive orders. Obama transition chief John Podesta said that the senator's aides were poring over all of them and will make such reversals among the new president's first acts.
Said Podesta, delivering a concrete rebuke of Bush only about 24 hours before the two men sat down together: "We need to get off the course that the Bush administration has set."
Associated Press writers Nedra Pickler, Liz Sidoti and Deb Riechmann contributed to this story.