President Obama, in his State of the Union speech, said he needs enhanced negotiating authority to secure a new trade deal with Japan and 10 other Pacific nations.
“The speech laid the groundwork for Obama to create some useful leverage with respect to key Democratic constituencies,” said Eric Shimp, policy advisor in Alston & Bird’s International Trade & Regulatory Group. “He’s going to be able to say to the labor and environmental groups, ‘Help me out here, I am trying to do exactly what you’ve asked through these trade agreements, but we’ve got to get them passed.’ [The Trans-Pacific Partnership] is the key to that.”
“The speech laid the groundwork for Obama to create some useful leverage with respect to key Democratic constituencies,” said Eric Shimp, policy advisor in Alston & Bird’s International Trade & Regulatory Group. “He’s going to be able to say to the labor and environmental groups, ‘Help me out here, I am trying to do exactly what you’ve asked through these trade agreements, but we’ve got to get them passed.’ [The Trans-Pacific Partnership] is the key to that.”