Barack Obama has urged the leaders of Japan and 10 other Pacific Rim economies to help him overcome the few remaining “logjams” in the way of creating a vast regional trade bloc.
After last week’s midterm election losses, the US president assured a meeting in Beijing of leaders involved in negotiations over a Trans-Pacific Partnership that he expected trade to be one area of bipartisan co-operation with the new Republican-controlled Congress.
Following years of negotiations, momentum was building towards a final agreement on the TPP, he said, and leaders needed to help “break some of the remaining logjams”. “It’s up to all of us to see if we can finalise a deal that’s both ambitious and comprehensive,” Mr Obama said. “This has the potential to be a historic agreement.”