Obama Calls for TPP Ratification in Final State of the Union Speech

“With TPP, China does not set the rules in that region, we do. We want to show our strength in this new century? Approve this agreement, give us the tools to enforce it. It’s the right thing to do”.

US President Barack Obama openly called upon domestic lawmakers to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement, referring once more to the need for Washington to play a leading role in setting trade rules in Asia.

Speaking at a joint session of Congress on Tuesday evening for his final State of the Union address, the US president said that the 12-country trade pact would “open markets, and protect workers and the environment, and advance American leadership in Asia.”

The State of the Union speech comes just weeks before Leaders from the 12 TPP nations are set to meet in New Zealand on 4 February to sign the agreement.

The signing of the deal kicks off a two-year window for the original signatories to finish their domestic approval, legislative, and ratification processes. Should that timeline be met, the deal would enter into force within 60 days.

Otherwise, 60 days following the end of that two-year window the agreement will still enter into force as Long as six of the signatories have notified the completion of domestic legal procedures, and that those six make up 85 percent of the group’s combined GDP under 2013 figures. Should that threshold not be met, the TPP will enter into force 60 days following whenever a minimum of six signatories making up 85 percent GDP is reached.

The US is the largest economy of the Trans-Pacific Partnership members, with the 12-country group together making up 40 percent of global GDP. Negotiations for the proposed agreement were concluded in October 2015 following a ministerial-level meeting in the US city of Atlanta, Georgia.