Economics
Obama Woos Asia With Trade Deal Asserting U.S. Pacific Role
US President Barack Obama makes his way to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on July 23, 2015 in Washington, DC.
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President Barack Obama has a dual goal in a Pacific-rim trade deal: expand trade with allies and cement U.S. influence in the region as an increasingly assertive China expands economically and militarily.
Trade officials from 12 governments are gathering in Hawaii next week to attempt to hash out the final details of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a pact seven years in the making that would clear barriers to commerce among nations that produce 40 percent of global economic output.