Obama, Vietnam leader talk trade at White House

WASHINGTON – Bolstered by new trade negotiating powers from Congress, President Barack Obama held an unprecedented meeting Tuesday with the head of Vietnam’s Communist Party as the U.S. pressed ahead to conclude talks on a groundbreaking Asia-Pacific economic pact.

Twenty years after normalizing diplomatic ties with its one-time foe, Obama sat down at the White House with Nguyen Phu Trong in hopes of drawing closer to a trade deal and strengthening a relationship that U.S. officials see as a linchpin in Obama’s Asia policy.

The proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, which would drop economic barriers along a 12-nation swath from Chile all the way around the Pacific to Australia, is a central element of Obama’s efforts to boost U.S. influence in Asia and to serve as an economic counterweight to China.

The meeting came in the aftermath of Obama’s successful legislative fight in Congress for fast-track negotiating authority, which cleared the way for the Obama administration to deal with the most difficult remaining aspects of the negotiations. Sticking points with Vietnam center on lower tariffs and on reducing the role of state-owned businesses that can cause trade distortions.