President Obama told a group of Vietnamese entrepreneurs on Tuesday that he is confident that Congress will approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
“The good news is the majority of Americans still believe in trade,” Obama said after explaining the bad taste some past trade deals left in the mouths of many Americans and why TPP is different.
“The bad news is politics in the United States is not always, how would I put it — reasonable; that’s the word I want,” Obama told the panel of young moguls he was moderating during a stop in Ho Chi Minh City on his three-day trip to Vietnam.
“But I’m confident that we’re going to be able to get it done,” he said. “In past negotiations on trade deals, even though there was a lot of opposition, at the end of the day we get it done,” he said, pointing to the trade pact with South Korea negotiated during the George W. Bush administration, but was not ratified until Obama took office.
“The argument that I continue to make to the United States is we’re not going to be able to end globalization,” he said. “We have to make globalization work for us.”
Obama then took a swipe at Republican lawmakers’ recalcitrance to his policies.
“Nothing’s easy in Washington these days,” Obama said. “But despite sometimes the lack of cooperation with Congress, I seem to be able to get a lot of things done anyway. It could have been easier. I would have less gray hair if Congress was working more effectively.”
