Pacific Trade Stall-Foreigners won’t budge if Obama won’t press Democrats in Congress.

President Obama as he arrives at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo on Wednesday. Associated Press

WSJ ASIA |  April 23, 2014

Can President Obama salvage the Trans-Pacific Partnership on his trip to Asia this week? The American leader has made the multilateral trade deal a centerpiece of his Asia strategy, yet negotiations are stalling at the hands of a growing coalition of the unwilling.

The pact would unite 12 economies around the Pacific Rim in a zone largely free of tariffs on goods. It would clarify rules and loosen restrictions on trade in services and cross-border investment while bolstering protections for intellectual property. Among other benefits, American exports could rise by $123.5 billion per year by 2025, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

The TPP is strategically important because it would deepen America’s economic engagement with the region at a time when China is growing increasingly assertive. The pact is supposed to be a central component of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s plan to revive what used to be the world’s second-largest economy. Japan’s economic health matters given its strategic importance as America’s principal democratic ally in Asia.

Yet TPP talks have hit the skids. Participants missed their self-imposed deadline to conclude a deal by the end of last year. High-level talks in Singapore in February concluded without a resolution, and various bilateral talks have been fruitless. Mr. Obama isn’t expected to reach a breakthrough when he meets with Mr. Abe Thursday.

The main reason is the lack of trade leadership in Washington. Mr. Obama has been ambivalent about trade during most of his tenure. And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reidearlier this year blocked authorization for Trade Promotion Authority that would guarantee an up-or-down Congressional vote on trade deals without amendments. Democrats figure this plays well with their union base as they try to avoid large midterm election losses.

America’s negotiating partners know this means any deal they sign may not be ratified in Washington this year. Why should they make concessions when the U.S. President won’t commit his political capital to persuade his own Democratic Party?

Absent leadership from Washington, protectionists are rallying to block reform. Japan wants to keep its exceptionally high agricultural tariffs, which Mr. Abe has described as “sacred.” Tokyo earlier this month signed a bilateral trade pact with Australia that reduces beef tariffs, although nowhere near as much as Washington has pushed for in TPP talks, and Japan now is calling for greater American “flexibility” to accept those higher tariffs.

Tokyo has found an anti-liberalization ally in Vietnam, as Hanoi resists any attempt to use TPP to chip away at the dominance of state-owned enterprises. Although negotiations are conducted in secret, we’re told that Washington rightly wants the deal to prohibit special advantages for state firms such as preferences in government procurement and the like. Another increasingly unwilling TPP negotiator is Malaysia. Among other things, Kuala Lumpur wants to preserve its ability to favor ethnic Malay-owned suppliers in government contracts.

Asian leaders bear responsibility for the steps they take to undermine TPP negotiations, and their economies will pay the price in missed growth opportunities if a deal doesn’t happen. But what this spectacle mostly illustrates is what happens when Washington fails to lead on trade.

Maybe Mr. Obama will manage to rescue TPP this week, but the quickest way to get talks moving again is to push aggressively for fast-track trade approval when he gets home. America’s partners are waiting for a sign that Washington is still on board.