New | Obama's pivot to Asia faces setback from fellow Democrat over trans-Pacific trade deal

President Barack Obama’s foreign policy pivot to Asia took a hit this week, and it came from a stalwart of his own party. The top Democratic in the US senate, Harry Reid, has announced that he opposes legislation that’s key for a trans-Pacific trade pact that’s arguably the most important part of Obama’s effort to step-up American engagement in Asia.

Since Obama rolled out the policy, most attention has been on the military aspect, largely because it was billed as a rebalance in US priorities after a decade of costly war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

But officials have increasingly stressed the pivot is about more than military and cementing America’s stature as the pre-eminent power in the Asia-Pacific as China grows in strength. It’s about capitalising on the region’s rapid economic growth.

Hence the importance of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, an ambitious free trade agreement being negotiated by 12 nations including Japan that account for some 40 per cent of global gross domestic product.

“The pivot is the TPP right now,” Victor Cha, director of Asian studies at the Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, told a conference at a Washington think tank this week on US policy and the outlook for Asia this year.

The Obama administration’s Asia policy has been welcomed by countries concerned by China’s rise and its expansive territorial claims. During the president’s first term, the US has made progress in strengthening old alliances with nations like the Philippines, forging deeper ties with Indonesia and Vietnam, and befriending former pariah state, Myanmar.