Top US lawmakers strike deal to fast-track trade deals

Top US congressional lawmakers have struck a long-sought, bipartisan agreement for the broadest trade policy pact in years, allowing President Barack Obama to negotiate trade accords for Congress' review and move forward with talks on a sweeping partnership with Pacific nations.
Obama quickly said he will sign the bill if Congress passes it.
"It's no secret that past trade deals haven't always lived up to their promise. And that's why I will only sign my name to an agreement that helps ordinary Americans get ahead." Obama said in a statement yesterday.
Chief among the challenges of passing the bill are divisions within the president's own party. Liberal and pro-business Democrats are bitterly split over the deal's potential for creating or subtracting American jobs.

Under the legislation, Congress gets an up-or-down vote on any such deals, but in exchange cannot make changes, a concern for labour, environmental and other interest groups.
The divisions hover over 2016 presidential politics, too, as Democratic contender Hillary Rodham Clinton kicks off her campaign to unite the party.

House Speaker John Boehner applauded the deal but said much of the burden of its success rests with Obama.
"He must secure the support from his own party that's needed to ensure strong, bipartisan passage," Boehner said in a statement that was echoed by the US Chamber of Commerce.
For Obama, the "fast track" legislation comes at an opportune time. He's negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which proposes a trade agreement involving the United States, Japan, Vietnam, Canada, Mexico and seven other Pacific rim nations.

Labour unions and others say the Pacific pact would hurt US job growth and encourage other countries to abuse workers and the environment.
The Obama administration rejects those claims, and says US goods and services must have greater access to foreign buyers.
One Democrat, Sen Sherrod Brown, said the agreement marked only a start and could be derailed by amendments that might be added when lawmakers consider the bill in committees or on the floor of the House.
Brown and other Democrats who are aligned with organised labour are often highly suspicious of, or even hostile to, trade legislation.
They argue such measures facilitate agreements that wind up destroying jobs in the US and creating jobs in nations that lack the environmental and worker safety protections that exist in the United States.

"Negotiating objectives without enforcement mechanisms don't get you very far," Brown told reporters.
Sen Orrin Hatch, the Republican chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said he expects the committee to consider the legislation next week.