APEC leaders want to push ahead with TPP, Obama says

Barack Obama reserves right to speak out after leaving office if he feels Donald Trump breaches “values or ideals”.

Barack Obama has reserved the right to speak out after leaving office if he feels Donald Trump breaches “values or ideals” he cares about.

Speaking in Lima, Peru, where he is attending the APEC summit, Mr Obama said he would uphold the tradition of ex- presidents stepping aside quietly to allow their successors space to govern. He heaped praise on former President George W. Bush, saying he “could not have been more gracious to me when I came in” and said he wanted to give the president elect the same chance to pursue his agenda “without somebody popping off” at every turn.

But he also said that as an “American citizen who cares deeply about our country,” he would review any issues that may arise after he leaves office and decide “if I think that it’s necessary or helpful for me to defend those ideals.”

Issues that might compel him to get involved would have less to do with legislative proposals than with “core questions about our values and ideals,” he said.

Yet Mr Obama suggested that while he might not always hold his tongue, he didn’t plan to spend his time publicly disparaging the next president. “My intention is to, certainly for the next two months, just finish my job,” he said.

“And then after that, to take Michelle on vacation, get some rest, spend time with my girls, and do some writing, do some thinking.”

Mr Obama’s remarks at a news conference offered some of his most specific indications to date of how he feels Democrats and Trump opponents should handle the next four years. Asked whether Democrats in the Senate should follow Republicans’ example of refusing to even consider a Supreme Court nominee, he said they should not.

“You give them a hearing,” said Mr Obama, whose own Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, has lingered for more than half a year due to the GOP’s insistence that no Obama nominee be considered.

Mr Obama said he certainly didn’t want Democrats to adopt that tactic spearheaded this year by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

“That’s not why the American people send us to Washington, to play those games,” he said.

He declined to weigh in explicitly on whether House Democrats should stick with Nancy Pelosi as minority leader, arguing it was improper to meddle in the vote. But he said of the California Democrat, who faces a challenge for the leadership post: “I cannot speak highly enough of Nancy Pelosi.”

Mr Obama’s remarks come as he concludes his final world tour as president. It was the last time he would take questions on foreign soil, a staple of his overseas trips that his administration has seen as an important symbol of America’s commitment to a rigorous free press.

Asked about the future of the Democratic Party, he admitted politics in the US “right now are a little up for grabs” and Democrats “have to do some thinking” about how they can get their message across to the American people.”

The Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress, and held a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate when he took office in 2009 but lost the House in 2010, and the Senate four years later.

Mr Obama noted that majorities of Americans agree with many Democratic positions, mentioning a minimum-wage increase, gun curbs, and affordable health care. The party doesn’t need “a complete overhaul,” he said, but better organisation and a “smarter” message.

He told reporters he had avoided ethical scandals by trying to follow the spirit, not just the letter, of the law, and suggested Mr Trump would be wise to follow his example about conflicts of interest. Although he declined to offer Mr Trump any explicit advice, he said he’d been served well by selling his assets and investing them in Treasury bills.

“It simplified my life,” Mr Obama said. “I did not have to worry about the complexities of whether a decision that I made might even inadvertently benefit me.”

Good government advocates have criticised Mr Trump’s decision not to liquidate his sprawling business interests, but put them in a blind trust entrusted to his children, who are playing major roles in helping him form his administration and are expected to remain involved in one capacity or another.

On his final day in Peru, Mr Obama chatted briefly with Russian President Vladimir Putin about Ukraine and the Syria crisis. The four-minute conversation, likely the leaders’ last face-to-face interaction, came amid intense speculation and concern about whether Mr Trump’s election might herald a more conciliatory US approach to Russia.

Mr Putin, speaking later after their meeting, said he and Mr Obama had noted that while their working relationship had been difficult, they’d “always respected each other’s positions — and each other.”

“I thanked him for the years of joint work, and said that at any time, if he considers it possible and will have the need and desire, we will be happy to see him in Russia,” Mr Putin said later.

Obama: do trade right

US President Barack Obama said today that leaders from across the Asia-Pacific have decided to move ahead with a trade deal opposed by his successor Donald Trump.

“Our partners made clear they want to move forward with TPP,” Mr Obama said at a press conference after meeting leaders in Peru.

“They would like to move forward with the United States.”

US President Barack Obama answers questions during his news conference at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in Lima, Peru.

It is unclear whether there is any future for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, a vast, arduously negotiated agreement between 12 countries that are currently at different stages of ratifying it. It does not include China.

Trump campaigned against the proposal as a “terrible deal” that would “rape” the United States by sending American jobs to countries with cheaper labour.

The agreement must by ratified in the US Congress — which will remain in the hands of Trump’s Republican allies when the billionaire mogul takes office on January 20.

Without the United States, it cannot be implemented in its current form. However, some have suggested Mr Trump could negotiate a number of changes and then claim credit for turning the deal around.

Mr Obama defended the increasing integration of the global economy at the close of his final foreign visit as president — a trade summit held against the backdrop of rising protectionist sentiment in the United States and Europe, seen in both Trump’s win and Britain’s “Brexit” vote.

He said that “historic gains in prosperity” thanks to globalisation had been muddied by a growing gap “between the rich and everyone else.” “That can reverberate through our politics,” he said.

“That’s why I firmly believe one of our greatest challenges in the years ahead across our nations and within them will be to make sure that the benefits of the global economy are shared by more people.”

And he sent a message to a world that is growingly wary of globalisation. “The answer is to do trade right,” he said.