Obama signs trade bills into law, giving boost to TPP talks
"The trade authorization that's provided here is not the actual trade agreements. So we still have some tough negotiations that are going to be taking place," Obama said at a signing ceremony for the trade legislation at the White House.
After weeks of fighting over the trade bills, US Congress finally agreed last week to give the president fast-track authority, also known as trade promotion authority, to submit trade deals to Congress that cannot be amended, which would speed up the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations that had stalled for months.
(U.S. President Barack Obama takes part in a signing ceremony for H.R. 2146 Defending Public Safety Employees’ Retirement Act and H.R. 1295 Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015 at The White House in Washington, United States)