President Barack Obama met with Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack to start promoting the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
In the meeting , Obama said the agreement will make U.S. agriculture more competitive as the deal eliminates about 18,000 different taxes.
The complete text of the agreement has yet to be released.
Vilsack told reporters that work is ongoing to make the full text available to the public as soon as possible.
Vilsack says the administration hopes to publish information for individual states that would show the benefits of the trade deal on a state level.
President Obama made remarks that “there’s going to be a long, healthy process of discussion and consultation and debate before this ever comes to an actual vote.”
Getting congressional approval could be an uphill battle, but one that won’t see an outcome until sometime next year.
