Obama: Outlines of Pacific Trade Deal Reached

 　　President Barack Obama has announced that the United States and eight other Pacific nations have reached the broad outlines of an agreement to create a Trans-Pacific Partnership¹ to liberalize trade.

　　Negotiations² aimed at finalizing³ the new trade group, composed of nations already members of the larger 21 member APEC group, have been going on for months.

　　Though the fine details and difficulty of the talks prevented any final agreement being announced in Honolulu, the conclusion of a framework for TPP was expected.

　　Mr. Obama said the accord, with a group of nations already doing some $200 billion in trade with the United States each year, will have benefits for all concerned. "The TPP will boost our economies, lowering barriers to trade and investment, increasing exports and creating more jobs for our people, which is my number one priority," he said.

　　Aside from the United States, other nations in TPP include Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Vietnam, Chile and Peru.  Japan was expected to announce it would join.

　　The president said TPP nations have directed teams to complete work on "plenty of details" remaining so the agreement can be finalized⁴ within the coming year, and he voiced optimism this can be achieved.

　　Mr. Obama noted⁵ that APEC itself had years ago established a goal of establishing a Pacific-wide free trade area.  TPP he said now has the potential to be a model, and addresses issues such as market regulation, workers rights, and the environment.

　　In remarks later as he met with business executives, Mr. Obama also spoke⁶ about developments in Europe.

　　The president said Europe as a whole must support its members, such as Italy and Greece, as they apply structural⁷ reforms to give confidence to markets. "We are not going to see massive growth out of Europe until the problem is resolved, and that will have a dampening effect on the overall global economy," he said.

　　Connecting European fiscal⁸ problems to the objectives of his nine-day Asia-Pacific trip, Mr. Obama said if European problems can be "contained" the Asia-Pacific region, with half of global trade and GDP , can be an "extraordinary engine for growth" by moving to further reduce trade and investment barriers.

1 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

2 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

3 finalizing   

vt.完成（finalize的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• You may edit registered information any time during the finalizing period. 您可以在规定期限内随时编辑修改注册资料。 来自互联网
• Natsun Trimming & Ironing, Finalizing the Perfection. 40南山整烫，完美在此定格。 来自互联网

4 finalized   

vt.完成（finalize的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The draft of this article has been finalized [done]. 这篇文章已经定稿。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The draft was revised several times before it was finalized. 稿子几经删改才定下来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

8 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。