[CTC] Obama Says He Expects TPP Deal In 2015, Ministerial Within Weeks

[Arthur Stamoulis]

Inside US Trade

Obama Says He Expects TPP Deal In 2015, Ministerial Within Weeks


Posted: September 16, 2015 
President Obama on Wednesday (Sept. 16) said that he is confident the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will be concluded before the end of this year and that he expects TPP ministers to meet in the next several weeks.

“I am confident that we can get it done, and I believe we can get it done this year,” Obama said at the quarterly meeting of the Business Roundtable (BRT) in Washington. “The trade ministers should be meeting again some time in the next several weeks -- they have the opportunity to close the deal.”

Obama's comments echoed Deputy National Security Adviser Caroline Atkinson, who on Sept. 9 said she expected <http://insidetrade.com/node/149714> the TPP negotiations would be concluded “in the next several weeks.”

Obama's comments come as informed sources say TPP countries are considering a proposal to hold <http://insidetrade.com/node/149830> their next ministerial meeting in the United States during the last week of September.

Obama signaled he expected a difficult TPP vote in Congress for two reasons, beginning with an isolationist tilt in the Republican Party. He said that within the Republican Party some of the same impulses that are anti-immigration reform, that “see the entire world as a threat” and argue the U.S. has to wall itself off, have started “creeping into the trade debate."

According to Obama, “a party that traditionally was pro-free trade now has a substantial element that may feel differently.” But he made clear that was not true for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), who Obama said he considered to be “on the right program” with respect to trade.

But he said they will need help to stay the pro-trade course and advised BRT members to “put [BRT President John] Engler to work” on persuading members of Congress.

Obama also cited the upcoming presidential election as a reason a TPP deal will likely face a tough fight in Congress. “The closer we get to the political season, the tougher these votes get,” Obama said. He called on BRT leaders to offer assistance to to convince members in both parties to support the deal.

He said he was confident the TPP that will be submitted to Congress will be a “high-standard” and “progressive” deal that will raise the bar with respect to intellectual property protection, enforceable labor and environmental rules and new disciplines on subsidies for state-owned enterprises.


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