U.S. Congress victory boosts Obama’s Pacific trade pact

U.S. lawmakers approved legislation key to securing a hallmark Pacific trade deal by a comfortable margin on Wednesday, advancing President Barack Obama’s efforts to strengthen U.S. economic ties with Asia. After a six-week congressional battle including two brushes with failure, some fancy legislative footwork and myriad backroom deals to keep the legislation alive, the Senate voted 60 to 38 to grant Obama the power to negotiate trade deals and send them on a fast track through Congress. The bill next goes to Obama for his signature.

We were really pleased to see President Obama pursue an idea we’ve long believed in. We thank him for his efforts to help us pass a bill to advance it.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Final passage could push the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a central part of Obama’s foreign policy pivot to Asia, over the finish line and also boost hopes that an ambitious trade deal with the European Union could soon be completed. The TPP, potentially a legacy-defining achievement for Obama, would be the biggest free trade agreement in a generation and rank with China’s ascension to the world trade stage and the North American Free Trade Agreement liberalizing trade between the United States, Canada and Mexico. But TPP ministers still have tricky issues to resolve, ranging from monopoly periods for next-generation medicines to the treatment of state-owned enterprises.

Politics trade senate