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U.S. House easily passes key element of President Obama's trade agenda

Xinhua, June 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday easily passed a key element of President Barack Obama's trade agenda, sending it to the White House for signing into law.

The House voted 286 to 138 to renew the so-called trade adjustment assistance (TAA) program, which provides relief for U.S. workers who lose their jobs as a result of U.S. trade deals with other countries, one day after the Senate approved the measure. If Congress fails to act, the worker aid program will expire on Sept. 30.

The TAA is part of a package of trade bills that would help the Obama administration secure the fast-track authority, also known as trade promotion authority, from Congress to negotiate the Asia- Pacific trade deal, a top priority of Obama's second-term agenda.

Some pro-trade Democrats had said they would like to back Obama 's trade agenda, providing that the TAA program would be renewed.

Obama had also said he wanted to sign both the TAA measure and the fast-track trade legislation, which cleared the final hurdle in Congress a day earlier.

The fast-track legislation, which allows the president to submit trade deals to Congress just for an up-or-down vote, is crucial to conclude the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade talks, which cover 40 percent of the global economy and are nearing completion after more than five years of negotiations.

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.

Obama is expected to sign these trade bills in coming days, giving a boost to his ambitious trade agenda. "I applaud the Democrats and Republicans in Congress who came together to give the United States the chance to negotiate strong, high-standard agreements for free and fair trade", Obama said Thursday in a statement after the House vote. "I look forward to signing these bipartisan bills into law as soon as they reach my desk." Endite