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LIMA / AFP
President Barack Obama planned separate talks with the leaders of Australia and Canada before wrapping up the final foreign trip of his presidency.
Both countries helped negotiate a multinational trade agreement with the US and nine other Pacific Rim countries. But Congress is unlikely to ratify the deal, dealing a blow to Obama’s once high hopes of having the agreement become part of his presidential legacy.
President-elect Donald Trump says trade deals can hurt U.S. workers, and he opposes the sweeping Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement.
Besides participating in meetings Sunday with other world leaders attending the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Forum taking place in Peru’s capital, Obama was sitting down first with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia, a U.S. ally and partner in the trans-Pacific trade deal.
The president also planned to speak with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose nation is another TPP partner.
Before boarding Air Force One for the flight to Washington, Obama was to answer questions from the journalists who accompanied him to Greece, Germany and Peru.
Trump’s election overshadowed every stop on Obama’s trip. The president went to once unimaginable lengths to defend the real-estate mogul and reality TV star who he had repeatedly denounced during the campaign as “temperamentally unfit” and “uniquely unqualified” to be president.