BEIJING: US President Barack Obama said on Monday he sees momentum building for a Washington-backed free trade agreement in the Asia-Pacific, after arriving in Beijing on the first leg of an eight-day Asia tour.

US officials have ruled out a major announcement on the ambitious 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in Beijing, where Obama will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

But business leaders attending the APEC forum have been looking for signs of progress on the TPP, especially as China is pushing for a separate trade liberalisation framework called the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP).

Obama said the TPP, in a deadlock largely due to disagreement between the United States and Japan over how widely Japan will open its doors to farm exports, had the potential to be an “historic achievement”.

“During the past few weeks our teams have made good progress in resolving several outstanding issues regarding a potential agreement. Today is an opportunity for us at the political level to break some remaining logjams,” Obama said at a meeting of TPP leaders at the US embassy.

“What we are seeing is momentum building around a Trans-Pacific Partnership that can spur greater economic growth, spur greater jobs growth, set high standards for trade and investment throughout the Asia-Pacific.”

Some see a proposed study on the FTAAP plan, which will be presented to APEC leaders for approval this week, as a way to divert attention from the TPP, which excludes China.

TPP leaders said in a statement issued after the meeting that they remained open to including “other regional partners that are prepared to adopt its high standards”.

Xi said FTAAP “does not go against existing free trade arrangements which are potential pathways to realise FTAAP’s goals”, state news agency Xinhua reported.

FTAAP can be an “aggregation” of existing free trade agreements, Xi said, adding that the aim was to consolidate regional integration and define long-term goals.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2014