Obama praises Trans-Pacific Partnership accord as full text is released

(credit: whitehouse.gov)

The President Barack Obama administration and other countries released the entire 2,000-page Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement on Thursday—a proposed 12-nation pact dealing with everything from intellectual property to human rights. It took five years of secret negotiations to finalize but only a moment for Obama to praise the pact publicly.

"The TPP means that America will write the rules of the road in the 21st century," Obama said. "If we don't pass this agreement—if America doesn't write those rules—then countries like China will." The deal isn't likely to reach Congress' plate until as early as March.

The nations in the accord include the US, Japan, Australia, Peru, Malaysia, Vietnam, New Zealand, Chile, Singapore, Canada, Mexico, and Brunei. They represent about 40 percent of the global economy. China has proposed a 16-nation free-trade bloc that includes India in response to the pending deal.

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