Ohio Gov. John Kasich visited the White House in support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement on Friday. The Republican was among guests of President Barack Obama at a bipartisan meeting of political and business leaders. Other guests included former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
“They know that this is important for our economy and this is important for our national security,” Obama said at the meeting. “If we are not in there making sure that fair trade is established in the Asian market, we’re going to be cut out.”
Obama hopes the meeting’s participants, also including Ginni Rometty, the chairwoman and CEO of International Business Machines Corp, and John Bel Edwards, the governor of Louisiana, can raise pressure on Democrats and Republicans in Congress to ratify the sweeping 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership after the November elections.
During his presidential campaign, Kasich was a vocal supporter of the TPP, a key Obama priority. Eventual GOP nominee Donald Trump described it as a catastrophe. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton also opposes the 12-country pact.
Ohio is the eighth largest exporting state in the U.S., with nearly $51 billion in goods and services sold last year. Kasich says the TPP would open new markets for products and services made by American and Ohio workers and companies.