Two op-eds this week tie negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership with the need for Congress to pass legislation that gives the President Trade Promotion Authority.

Bloomberg View, "Give Obama a Stronger Hand to Play":

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman is reaching the end of negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free-trade agreement almost five years in the making. The accord would wrap the U.S., Japan, and 10 other Pacific Rim countries into a humongous free-trade zone with almost 800 million consumers and 40 percent of global output. It could increase U.S. exports by $78 billion a year and create hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs over the next decade. Yet a deal won’t happen unless Congress soon gives President Obama fast-track authority, also called trade-promotion authority, which lets the president submit a treaty for a straight up-or-down vote.

Without fast-track authority, the U.S. won’t be able to negotiate the deal on favorable terms, and then Congress won’t approve it. That could sideline free-trade talks between the U.S. and the European Union, as well as efforts to write a much-needed global rulebook for trade in services. 

U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and ACE Group CEO Evan G. Greenberg -- a Business Roundtable member -- writing for CNBC, "Why we need to boost US-Asia trade":

More broadly, the successful conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is critical to spurring growth in the United States and the throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Four ASEAN countries (Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam) are now participants in the 12-nation TPP negotiations. The TPP is an ambitious, comprehensive, 21st century agreement that will enable U.S. companies to compete on a level playing-field with our global competitors and set transparent rules of the road reflective of American values.

We have clearly reached the endgame of the negotiations, and now is the time for Congress to pass Trade Promotion Authority to facilitate the successful completion of the agreement.

Greenberg leads the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council, with which the U.S. Department of Commerce in traveling to Vietnam and the Philippines to demonstrate the U.S. government and private sector's commitment to ASEAN. (ACE Group news release.)

More ....

• BusinessWorld Online (Philippines), "US seeks closer business ties"
• Philippine Inquirer, "US firms scout for business opportunities in PH"
• Associated Press, "US: China tensions bad for Asia business"