[CTC] Obama Plans Another Appeal for Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Deal

[Arthur Stamoulis]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/16/business/obama-plans-another-appeal-for-trans-pacific-partnership-trade-deal.html?_r=0


Obama Plans Another Appeal for Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Deal
WASHINGTON — President Obama <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per>, beginning a final uphill push for a trade initiative that is opposed by both party’s presidential candidates, will host an Oval Office meeting on Friday to showcase support among public figures in both parties.

Mr. Obama will convene a bipartisan group to discuss the benefits of the Trans-Pacific Partnership <http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/business/tpp-explained-what-is-trans-pacific-partnership.html>, the 12-nation Pacific trade agreement whose completion he has made a top priority, White House officials said.

Expected attendees include Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, a former contender for the Republican presidential nomination, and Henry M. Paulson Jr., who served as Treasury secretary under George W. Bush, as well as Gov. John Bel Edwards of Louisiana, a Democrat, and Mayor Kasim Reed of Atlanta, a Democrat.

Michael R. Bloomberg, the financial news magnate and Republican-turned-independent former mayor of New York, and Virginia Rometty, the chief executive of IBM, will also attend, as will James G. Stavridis, the former NATO commander.

The meeting is Mr. Obama’s latest attempt, in his waning days in office, to make the case for the trade pact, the largest regional trade accord in history, which he has argued is an economic and national security imperative.

Critics in both parties, including a majority of Democrats in Congress, are opposed. Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has called the deal “a rape of our country,” while Hillary Clinton, the Democrat who pressed the initiative when she was secretary of state, has changed course and opposed it during her campaign for the White House.

In the face of such headwinds, White House aides said Mr. Obama was eager to highlight the broad backing for the accord among national security leaders, business executives and elected officials.

“The president is confident in the strong case he has to make that high-standards trade agreements like the T.P.P. are essential to ensuring that our workers can compete on a level playing field in an increasingly global economy, and guaranteeing that America is setting the rules for global trade in the decades to come,” said Brandi Hoffine, a White House spokeswoman.

While the measure has substantial Republican backing, Speaker Paul Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, said last week that it did not have enough votes to pass the House. Mr. Obama is hoping that may change after the November elections, when lawmakers are less worried about the potential political fallout from backing it.

Mr. Ryan, an ally on the issue, said he had no intention of bringing the accord to a vote in the lame-duck session of Congress, worrying that a public defeat this year would be worse than waiting until the political tide shifts.



Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826




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