President Obama heading to China, Laos

President Obama is heading back to Asia early next month, where he will plug the importance of a sweeping Pacific trade agreement as part of the United States’s pivot toward the region.

The president will travel to China and Laos during an eight-day swing from Sept. 2 to 9 through the Asia-Pacific region to participate in the Group of 20, U.S.-Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and East Asia summits. 

{mosads}The president is making his 11th trip to Asia and is expected to make his case for how the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement will help U.S. businesses and workers expand into some of the world’s fastest-growing markets.

Obama is urging Congress to pass the TPP before he leaves office but is facing an uphill battle on Capitol Hill and on the campaign trail, where Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump have expressed opposition to the expansive deal. 

The president has argued that the United States needs the TPP to set the standard for global trade rules ahead of Beijing. 

During his China visit, the president will hold in-depth meetings with President Xi Jinping of China in Hangzhou, where the two leaders will discuss a wide range of global, regional and bilateral issues likely including the territory situation in the South China Sea.

China is not a member of the TPP, but trade with the communist nation has been a flashpoint during the presidential campaign.

Trump has blasted Beijing as a rule-breaker that has stoked a growing trade deficit with the United States and cost countless Americans their jobs.

“China is responsible for nearly half of our entire trade deficit,” Trump said during an economic speech earlier this month. “They break the rules in every way imaginable,” he said. 

In response, Clinton has said that she will “stand up to China and anyone else who tries to take advantage of American workers and companies.”

But there is little doubt about the importance of the U.S.-China trade relationship.

U.S. exports to China reached $113 billion last year, making it the third-largest export market for U.S. goods behind Canada and Mexico, the U.S.-China Business Council (USCBC) said Thursday in its annual report.

The report showed that China was a top-three goods export market for 33 U.S. states and among the top five for 13 other states. 

U.S. services exports to China are growing rapidly, too. 

In 2014, the latest year for which full data are available, U.S. services exports to China totaled $42 billion, making China the United States’s fourth-largest services export market.

“Exports to China play an essential role in the U.S .economy and job growth,” said USCBC President John Frisbie.

“With China’s large population, rapidly growing middle class and a long list of economic development goals, American companies of all sizes are sending a variety of goods and products to an ever growing consumer and business marketplace in China,” Frisbie said.

In his trip to Laos, the first for a U.S. president, Obama will have bilateral meetings with Laotian President Bounnhang Vorachith and other officials to discuss U.S.-Lao cooperation, according to the White House. 

The president also will participate in the Young Southeast Asian Leadership Initiative Summit.