TOKYO (AP) – A bipartisan congressional agreement on granting President Barack Obama trade promotion authority for a pan-Pacific trade deal is likely this spring, U.S. lawmakers visiting Japan said Thursday.
Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and seven other lawmakers were meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other top Japanese officials, promoting the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP.
Ryan and the other lawmakers said they believed the TPP was crucial for both economies and that there was growing support for giving the president the authority to fast-track an agreement.
Progress toward a final TPP agreement among the dozen countries involved in the trade talks hinges partly on settling disputes between the U.S. and Japan on trade in farm products and autos. Deadlines for reaching an agreement have been pushed back repeatedly as negotiators failed to overcome those differences.
But it also requires a consensus over the trade promotion authority needed to “fast-track” a deal, ensuring it faces only an up-or-down vote in Congress and will not be amended. Without that guarantee, it is harder for the other countries involved in the talks to make tough political decisions.