Trade Pact to ‘Significantly Enhance’ US-Canada Trade, US Envoy Says

The TPP would be a signature landmark for U.S. President Barack Obama, who earlier in the day said the pact was a good deal economically.

“In the ideal world, you would you get to a situation where FTAAP has been concluded, all of the 21 countries and economies that sit within APEC are included in a free trade agreement”, Key said.

His comments were published on the Kremlin website just before this week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, which the Russian leader said should play a greater role in regional trade. Froman is on tour touting what he said are the benefits of an agreement created to improve trade relations, encourage the exportation of USA goods, and protect American jobs. In addition to the TPP, they will have a packed agenda that includes the war on Islamic militants, the refugee crisis and the fight against climate change. The deal has also been criticized by Donald Trump and others in the Republican presidential primary race.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Takehiko Nakao, for his part, said Asian economies continue to post higher growth levels on back of stronger trade tie-ups.

The leaders said they were pleased that the negotiated text of the agreement, which has been touted as a counterweight to China’s growing economic clout but been criticized by sectors opposed to the elimination of trade barriers, including USA labor unions, was now fully available for review before being signed.

Congress must approve the pact before it can take effect, but USA lawmakers have been lukewarm toward the deal. The Obama administration counts the pact as a centerpiece of its strategy of rebalancing USA military & diplomatic resources towards Asia, where China has develop in to more and more assertive.

Obama acknowledged negotiations were challenging.

Reuters also reported late last month that Trudeau and Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe had “agreed to promote” the TPP with Japan’s foreign ministry stating “both seeing the free-trade deal as beneficial to the region”.

Out of the 12 countries involved Peru, Mexico and Chile come 12th, 11th and 9th respectively in the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index, which measures the challenges and advantages affecting different countries’ ability to benefit from global trade.

“We strongly believe that on a bipartisan basis, we should get this done”, Obama told reporters after meeting with a group of senior diplomats and defense experts.