Posted on 05/23/2016 6:04:47 AM PDT by maggief
President Obama said Monday he’s confident that Congress will overcome election-year gridlock and approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement.
Obama acknowledged during a news conference in Vietnam that passing trade deals is tough, especially during a political campaign when the issue is hotly debated.
“Having said that, I remain confident we're going to get it done,” he told reporters. “It's good for the country. It's good for America. It's good for the region. It's good for the world.”
Obama is looking to reassure Asian nations that the deal is still on track for passage, despite growing political opposition to it in the U.S.
The trade deal, which was finalized last fall, is the biggest piece of the administration's emerging relationship with Vietnam, a Cold War-era foe. Persuading Congress to ratify the 12-nation trade deal is near the top of Obama’s final-year agenda.
But the deal has drawn opposition from members in both parties in Congress along with the leading Democratic and Republican presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
Critics of the deal say it could lead to American firms shipping jobs overseas to countries with lower wages, including Vietnam. They also have said the labor and environmental protections in the deal are not strong enough.
Despite the dwindling time left on this year’s congressional calendar and reluctance from House and Senate leaders to hold a vote on the package, Obama insisted the Pacific Rim trade pact has a strong chance of passage.
“The politics of it will be noisy,” he said, adding that was true for past trade deals with Panama, Colombia and South Korea.
“But we got them done. And I'm confident that we'll get them done this time, as well, although there will be ups and downs and bumps along the way.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Boy, if we only had a Republican controlled Congress, we wouldn’t have to worry about this nonsense getting passes.
That’s passed. Not passes. Sorry for the typo.
Post the entire bill on-line. Let me read it because we all know that’s not how the congress and senate do things.
Why would ANY republican vote for this?
As long as he’s got he pen....there’s a problem.
We've heard that before....many times. He forgot "it's good for stuffing my own pockets" because you know nation's and manufacturers would pay for this big time...
And that deal was struck on the golf course between Obama and Boner.
There is NOTHING on this earth more important to the GOP than TPP.
I’m confident it will pass too. Eddie Munster is Obama’s bitch.
You're really tempting me there with some new tagline material.
I recall that Cruz supported the bill — though he may have waffled a bit late in the campaign.
I’d be honored.
Done. :)
> Why would ANY republican vote for this?
Are you kidding?
Yeh Jeff Sessions was talking about the Korea trade deal. He said he got talked into voting for it and now its not a good deal for us. We are at a deficit with them too. Its not a real trade deal unless the US gets screwed.
You tell me, Rubio, Jeb, Cruz, et al were all supported it at one time or another, though some lied and claimed they did not once it became obvious trade was something the electorate cared about.
deal ... agreement
What legally are these things? How do they differ from a treaty?
Looks like Cruz will get hos 500% increase in H-1b visas after all.
There is no way Korea or any other Asian nation would sign any deal that would reduce their trade surplus with the US. I spent most of my career dealing in these countries and know them well. Without some drastic measures on our part we will not improve the trade situation.
Free Traitors™ tell us trade deficits don’t matter.
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