THE United States Senate has unwisely built a speed bump on the already slow road to progress for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), to every stakeholder's detriment.

Members of President Barack Obama's own party, the Democrats, almost unanimously blocked a bill that would grant Mr Obama "fast-track" authority to negotiate the 12-country free-trade pact without having to constantly check in with Congress. And so negotiations that have been going on for several years are likely to drag on for a good while more.

There are genuinely sound concerns about the TPP but critics need to understand that, on balance, it is better to maintain momentum on deal talks than to apply the brakes at the outset. Unfortunately for negotiators, the deal has plenty of critics. For example, transparency advocates question why the negotiations are being done in secret.