President Obama Highlights TPP, Cuba Embargo in Final State of the Union Address -

On January 12, President Obama delivered his seventh and final State of the Union Address to Congress and the American people. Among the many topics that he raised in this annual speech were two trade-related priorities that may directly impact manufacturers in the United States: passing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and lifting the trade embargo against Cuba.

With respect to the TPP, President Obama pointed to the agreement’s promise not only to open markets in the twelve partner countries across the Pacific Rim (Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and the United States), but also to positively impact other trade-related issues that are not covered in the World Trade Organization’s agreements or traditional free trade agreements, such as labor and environmental issues. President Obama pointed to the importance of ratifying this agreement to demonstrate U.S. leadership on trade in the Asia-Pacific region as a counterbalance to Chinese influence there.