WASHINGTON—The on-again off-again negotiations for the biggest trade agreement in history are about to get serious, foreign diplomats gathered in Washington said Tuesday, June 23.
They were reacting to a U.S. Senate vote that increases the chances of success for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a pact between 12 countries including Canada, the U.S., Mexico, and Japan.
A bill to give President Barack Obama so-called “fast track” negotiating authority cleared the 60-percent vote threshold to override a filibuster in the U.S. Senate, paving the way for its adoption by a simple majority within days.
In practice, the vote means other countries can now prepare serious offers in the final stages of negotiations for a deal covering 40 percent of the world’s economy.
