President Obama to dive into Pacific trade talks

President Barack Obama and leaders of 11 other countries are set to get directly involved with negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership — potentially the largest trade deal in U.S. history — when they meet in Bali next month, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said on Thursday.

“I think we envisage the leaders will get together and talk about the major outstanding issues (in the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks) and whether there need to be packages put together to create a balanced outcome,” Froman told reporters at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, in Washington, D.C.

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Froman also repeated the administration’s desire for Congress to approve a bipartisan bill to give the White House new “trade promotion authority.”

That legislation would allow Obama to submit the TPP pact to Congress for a straight up-or-down vote without any amendments. In addition to expediting passage, it assures other countries that any deal they strike with administration won’t be picked apart by Congress.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/obama-pacific-trade-talks-97419.html#ixzz2g2uTK05x