Problems mount for White House in push for Trans-Pacific trade pact [View all]

[KittyWampus]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/14/us-usa-trade-idUSBRE9AC1AE20131114

(Reuters) - A White House push for a freer hand to clinch trade deals ran into a roadblock on Wednesday as two-thirds of Democrats in the House of Representatives stated their opposition, complicating efforts to finalize a pact with 11 Pacific Rim countries.

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In a letter to President Barack Obama, 151 House Democrats said there had not been enough consultation between the administration and Congress over the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP pact.

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Previously, 230 U.S. House members and 60 senators had written to the administration to demand that any deal ensures member countries do not engage in unfair currency practices that could hurt the U.S. economy.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Sander Levin, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, said on Wednesday that they would reject any agreement that did not contain a currency manipulation clause. "You've got to be willing to vote 'No' if (currency manipulation) is not addressed," Graham said.

A draft of the intellectual property chapter under discussion in the TPP talks released by WikiLeaks on Wednesday revealed serious rifts among the countries participating, and raised further doubts about concluding an agreement by year end.

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Gary Hufbauer, a trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said Obama faced the tricky task of winning over Democrats on the left who are traditionally opposed to trade agreements and right-wing Republicans who do not want to grant him any concessions.