A new 12-country agreement to ease import and export restrictions is more important for all of us than you may realize. "This partnership levels the playing field for our farmers, ranchers and manufacturers by eliminating more than 18,000 taxes that various countries put on our products," President Obama says. Trade ministers announced the Trans-Pacific Partnership this month in Atlanta, where they reached a goal that has taken seven years of negotiation. The 12 countries are cooperating to compete with China's rising economic influence in the Pacific region.

While the agreement marks a huge step, it doesn't kick in automatically. The U.S. Congress and lawmakers in the 11 other countries still must ratify (approve) the deal before it takes effect. Critics in this country, where Congress has 90 days to review the details, include unions and many of the president's fellow Democrats. Those uneasy include Democratic presidential campaigner Hillary Clinton, who says: "I don't believe it's going to meet the high bar I have set." (See video below.)

Opponents say the deal opens the way for more U.S. manufacturing jobs to move to low-wage nations. They also feel it limits competition and encourages higher prices for prescription drugs and other products by spreading American standards for patent protections to other countries. "It would drive down our wages by putting Americans in competition with Vietnamese workers who make less than 65 cents per hour," says Lori Wallach of a group called Public Citizen. "And it would also result in larger trade deficits, killing more jobs."

The president and other backers say the agreement will "unlock opportunities" and could mean cheaper food, medicine and household goods for millions of people here and abroad. It will "create new U.S. export opportunities, especially in Japan," trade specialist Edward Alden of the private Council on Foreign Relations writes in The New York Times.

Nations involved: United States, Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Chile, Mexico, Canada, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Japan.

President Obama says: "It includes the strongest commitments on labor and the environment of any trade agreement in history -- and those commitments are enforceable, unlike in past agreements."

Critic says: "We are being presented with a trade deal, negotiated in secret mainly by corporate lobbyists, that looks to offshore U.S. workers' jobs and attacks workers' living standards, raises real concerns about food safety and our ability to protect the environment, and allies the United States with governments that engage in forced labor and abuses of their own citizens, like Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei." – Chris Shelton, president of the Communications Workers of America.