Obama Pushes to complete two trade deals before his term ends

Time running out on trade agreement: Obama

hanover — US President Barack Obama said he would do whatever he could to advance a controversial trade deal with the European Union in his last eight months in office, but warned that time was running short.

Obama has pushed to complete two trade agreements before his term ends on January 20 — with Pacific nations and with the EU — but has run into a growing swell of populist concerns about the impact on jobs, consumer protections and the environment.

“Time is not on our side,” he conceded to business leaders at the Hanover Messe, a massive industrial trade fair.

“If we don’t complete negotiations this year, then upcoming political transitions in the United States and Europe would mean this

If we don’t complete negotiations this year, then upcoming political transitions in the US and Europe would mean this agreement won’t be finished for quite some time Barack Obama, US President

agreement won’t be finished for quite some time.”

Obama is in Germany to promote the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, but the issue was overshadowed by discussions on the crises in Syria, Ukraine and Libya when the two leaders met.

On Monday, they are set to hold talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on some of the same issues. But first, they had dinner in a 17th century palace with chief executives of some of the largest US and German companies such as Microsoft, Dow, Lockheed Martin, Honeywell, BASF, Bayer and Siemens.

Also at the dinner was Matthias Müller, CEO of Volkswagen.

Obama acknowledged his message about the benefits of trade has not broken though.

“The benefits oftentimes are diffuse, whereas a particular plant or business that feels it’s been hurt by outside competition feels it very acutely,” he told reporters.

Obama said he hoped the deal, which supporters say could boost economies on each side of the Atlantic by $100 billion, would be agreed this year.

But final ratification will take more time. The Trans-Pacific Partnership is first in the queue for the US Congress, which is not clamoring to hold a final vote. —

AP US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel testing virtual reality goggles while touring the Hannover Messe, the world’s largest industrial technology trade fair, in Hanover, northern Germany, on Monday. —