Obama confident Congress will approve trade pact

WASHINGTON — President Obama told business leaders Tuesday he is confident that Congress will approve a massive Pacific Rim trade agreement because it is a good deal for U.S. producers and consumers.

“I’m also confident that the case to be made for why this is good for America is sufficiently strong, that ultimately we’re going to get this done,” Obama said after a meeting with the business leaders at the U.S. Agriculture Department.

The proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership will eliminate or reduce foreign tariffs on some 18,000 products, notably agriculture exports, Obama said. For example, he said, Japan slaps a 38% tax on American beef, and Malaysia has a 30% tax on U.S. auto parts.

As Congress takes up the landmark trade bill, Obama is in many ways fighting with fellow Democrats who have opposed free trade for years.

Labor unions, major backers of Obama’s presidential campaigns, have also come out against TPP, saying their members will lose jobs as a result. These critics say free trade deals in general make it easier for U.S. employers to move jobs to nations that have lower wages and fewer environmental regulations.

“Rushing through a bad deal will not bring economic stability to working families, nor will it bring confidence that our priorities count as much as those of global corporations,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.

Obama said the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership — which ranges from Canada to Chile to Australia to Japan — includes labor and environmental requirements from all countries, making it harder to move jobs around. If countries don’t abide by the labor and environmental standards, he said, “then they don’t get the benefits of selling to the United States under the terms of this agreement.”

Preparing to sell the deal in the months ahead, Obama said he and his aides “are going to be talking not just to members of Congress, but the American public and various constituencies, and governors, and mayors who are represented here about why this is good for their communities.”

While Obama said, “I suspect that there will be some misinformation that is propagated around this, as there usually is in these debates,” he predicted the agreement will ultimately be ratified.

“It will be an enormous achievement for us to be able to make sure that 40% of the world’s economy is operating under rules that don’t hurt us,” Obama said.