Obama races to cement Pacific trade deal

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — President Barack Obama is racing against the clock to cement a massive Pacific Rim trade deal that all of his potential successors oppose, with his administration eyeing a looming fight on Capitol Hill while starting to implement as much of the complicated pact as it can.

The effort begins in Vietnam, where Obama spent the last three days touting the merits of the 12-nation TransPacific Partnership, which would link 40 percent of the global economy, and reassuring Vietnamese leaders key to the deal that Congress will ultimately overcome the thorny politics of trade and ratify the agreement.

“Nothing is easy in Washington these days,” Obama assured participants at a round table discussion with business leaders Tuesday in Ho Chi Minh City, the heart of what is one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies. “But despite sometimes the lack of cooperation with Congress, I seem to be able to get a lot of things done anyway.”

Ordinarily, a presidential administration would wait until Congress ratifies a trade agreement before putting it into force with member nations. But with just eight months left in office and presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders all against the deal, Obama and his advisers appear to have concluded that they must speed up that lengthy process to preserve the trade pact.

“In this case, we’ve decided to accelerate that,” U.S. Trade Representative Mike Froman said. “In consultation with Congress, we are already working with the countries in the region on the various steps that they’ll need to take to bring themselves into compliance with TPP.”

He cited Vietnam as an example, saying U.S. officials have traveled to the country over the last couple of months to discuss its obligations under the deal.

TPP would create the world’s largest free trade zone, deepening economic ties between the U.S. and fellow signatories including Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia and Singapore. The administration says it would eventually eliminate more than 18,000 tariffs that other nations impose on American imports such as textiles, chemical goods, fruit, beef and wine and beer.

Last week’s release of an independent report analyzing TPP’s economic impact on the U.S. cleared the way for Congress to begin formal consideration of the final agreement. The White House says it is in regular consultation with congressional leaders about the best legislative strategy going forward, and wants to see it approved as soon as possible.

But both Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress have said they are reluctant to bring the measure to a vote during the heat of a presidential campaign in which the three remaining presidential contenders are avowed opponents.

The White House says neither the U.S. nor the other signatories are willing to reopen the agreement to make changes that might bring additional political support here. But by beginning the implementation work with countries like Vietnam, they can take steps that could help make wary members of Congress more confident that U.S. partners will abide by the terms of the agreement reached last fall.

Some critics in Congress were particularly skeptical of what they saw as overly generous terms for Vietnam to comply with new labor and environmental standards of the deal, as well as an extended timeline that it was granted to begin setting up independent trade unions.