Obama must make the case for freer trade

ACCORDING to recent reports, US congressional negotiators have reached a deal on the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) legislation aimed at speeding approval of international trade agreements, including a major trade pact with the Asia-Pacific economies that the Obama administration now hopes to conclude next year.

The TPA legislation, aka "fast-track", would enable the White House to submit negotiated trade agreements to an up-or-down vote without amendments before Congress. The TPA expired in 2007, but it is now crucial to completing the final round of negotiations on a historic trade deal with the 12 partner economies of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) as well as accelerating the talks on a trade pact with the European Union (EU) economies, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

The TPP is the centrepiece of the Obama administration's geo-strategic and geo-economic agenda, the so-called "pivot" to the Asia-Pacific region that was supposed to underline Washington's renewed commitment to Asia and to expanding its presence in the region.