A huge regional trade agreement which would underpin Barack Obama's "pivot" to Asia could be sealed within weeks, says Trade Minister Andrew Robb.
The catch, however, is that a fast-track approval process from the US Congress has failed to materialise, thanks to a wild-card Democratic senator, Elizabeth Warren, as she positions to woo left-leaning voters from Hillary Clinton ahead of the coming presidential race. [...] But Ms Warren's ferocious attack on the TPP has caused Congress to baulk at giving the Obama administration the fast-track authority it needs to seal a deal during the only realistic window of political opportunity prior to the US presidential election in November 2016, said Mr Robb. Her intervention has been quite significant in changing the politics of it all, Mr Robb told Fairfax Media. "If she comes out and takes issue with key elements of the TPP then it becomes potentially a presidential campaign-type issue and it might mean that insufficient Democrats line up [in Congress]," said Mr Robb. "It is at a make-or-break point: the next month or so." [...] Ms Warren, Senator for Massachusetts, has recently been touted as a possible challenger to Mrs Clinton in the Democratic Party primaries. In a series of opinion articles and interviews she has taken aim at the secrecy surrounding TPP negotiations and also at investor-state dispute clauses which would enable corporations to potentially sue governments for unfair and unequal treatment. [...] http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/make-or-break-for-vital-trade-agreement-with-united-states-andrew-robb-20150311-141hby.html === Robert Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org [email protected] (202) 448-2898 x1
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