Obama: Pulling up drawbridge on trade would hurt US workers
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong urged the United States to maintain its “indispensable role” in the Asia-Pacific and ratify the TPP as he joined Obama at the White House to celebrate the 50th anniversary of U.S. diplomatic relations with the Southeast Asian city state.
Obama said that people have legitimate fears about the impact of globalization and being “left behind” but the answer cannot be to back away from trade and the global economy.
“To try to pull-up a drawbridge on trade would only hurt us and hurt our workers. The answer is to make sure that globalization and trade is working for us and not against us,” Obama told joint news conference after talks with Lee in the Oval Office.
“TPP is designed to do precisely that,” Obama added.
Singapore, a close U.S. partner, is one of the 12 nations in the TPP, an agreement key to Obama’s effort to boost U.S. exports and build strategic ties in Asia.
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