"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, U.S. 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.
Other TPP participants have signaled that they would like to put their best offers on the table and conclude the trade deal only after the Obama administration has secured the fast-track authority from Congress.
By Ruchi Singh
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
