Obama, New Congress Seen Pushing Ahead on Trade Agenda

President Barack Obama is likely to push forward on the Trans-Pacific Partnership at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leader’s Summit, which opened Monday in Beijing, and may also target TPP progress at other meetings with heads of state in the coming days and weeks, said Peterson Institute for International Economics analysts. Immediately after the midterm elections, CEA President Gary Shapiro singled out a CE industry priority -- "fast-track trade authority" to reduce tariffs on high-tech goods -- as one of several legislative initiatives that he thinks will progress rapidly through a Republican-controlled House and Senate (see 1411050022). The Republican landslide in the midterms increases the likelihood that Congress and the White House will be able to cooperate on some critical pieces of the trade agenda over the coming months, said Peterson Institute senior trade analyst Jeff Schott on a Friday call with reporters. Obama and likely next majority leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., pledged the day after the elections to move on trade. Congress is likely to vote on Trade Promotion Authority in the early weeks of 2015, and a TPP implementation vote could come within a year of securing TPA, said Schott.