(Reuters) — U.S. president Barack Obama’s administration hopes to release the full text of a Pacific trade deal within the next 30 days, U.S. trade representative Michael Froman said in early October.
The United States recently sealed the Trans-Pacific Partnership with 11 trading partners after more than five years of negotiations.
“The lawyers are working right now to finalize the text and to prepare it for release,” Froman said.
Under a timetable laid out by the U.S. Congress, the text of any trade deal should be made public 30 days after the administration notifies Congress that it intends to sign it. Obama can sign the deal 60 days after the text is made public.
Froman also brushed off criticism from U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton of the TPP, which is a central plank of the administration’s pivot to Asia.
Froman said he did not want to comment on presidential politics but said the deal was of a “very high standard.”
