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New Zealand PM urges U.S. politicians to approve TPP amid growing resistance

Xinhua, September 20, 2016 Adjust font size:

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has urged United States politicians to approve the controversial 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Key said in a statement from his office Tuesday that he had reinforced the benefits of the TPP in a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

The speech was made amid growing resistance to the deal, with both main candidates in this year's election for the president expressing opposition to the TPP.

Key welcomed the priority that President Barack Obama's administration had placed on the TPP's passage through Congress this year.

Key said that while some in the U.S. might not think the TPP was "the perfect deal," the idea that it could be renegotiated to get a better outcome was unrealistic.

"Asian countries are determined to grow and they realize to grow they need to remove trade barriers. This will happen with or without the United States," he said. Endit