After more than five years of negotiations, Monday morning 12 countries announced the successful conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade agreement that covers nearly 40 per cent of the global economy. This deal is a significant success for the Obama administration, with potentially profound geostrategic implications. The TPP has the potential to be one of the top two foreign policy successes of the Obama administration (along with the Iran nuclear deal) and could be one of his greatest legacies. Unfortunately, the signing is merely the first step –the US president is going to have a huge challenge in getting it through Congress.
經過5年多的談判後，12個國家在10月5日早晨宣佈成功簽署了《跨太平洋夥伴關係協定》(TPP)。TPP涵蓋了全球近40%的經濟總量。對歐巴馬政府來說，該協定是一個巨大的成就，可能具有深遠的地緣政治影響。TPP有望成爲歐巴馬政府兩大外交政策成就之一（還有一個是伊朗核協議），並可能成爲他最大的政治遺產之一。遺憾的是，簽署協議只是第一步——歐巴馬在推動美國國會通過TPP時將面臨巨大挑戰。