Obama Claims TPP Agreement Prevents China From Setting Rules in Pacific

President Barack Obama said that the United States has negotiated the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement to strengthen US positions in Asia and limit China’s ability to dictate rules in the region.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States has negotiated the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement to strengthen US positions in Asia and limit China’s ability to dictate rules in the region, President Barack Obama said in his last State of the Union address.

"We forged a Trans-Pacific Partnership to open markets, protect workers and the environment, and advance American leadership in Asia," Obama stated on Tuesday evening. "With TPP, China doesn’t set the rules in that region, we do."

In October, 2015, 12 countries of the Pacific Rim region reached an agreement on the wording and subject matter of the TPP, intending to deregulate trade among them. The details of the controversial trade deal, negotiated in unusual secrecy, have been revealed to the public after almost seven years of negotiations.

In December, Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said large-scale agreements like the TPP and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) ran counter to the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) original aim of promoting global trade.

The US Congress is expected to vote on the free trade agreement at the beginning of 2016.