President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle give each other a loving glance while greeting guests for a state dinner at the White House on Tuesday (August 2) in Washington D.C. “However, for those of you who know its unmistakable scent that never seems to go away, you will understand why we will not serve any fruit known as durian”, he said, to much laughter. “To try to pull up the drawbridge on trade would only hurt ourselves and our workers”. “The answer is to make sure that globalization and trade is working for us and not against us”, Obama told joint news conference after talks with Lee in the Oval Office. Though Singapore was struggling to meet economic and security needs, the former PM had come down to understand Washington’s moods and intentions rather than to seek aid, noted PM Lee.
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At the press conference that was in part created to promote the Trans-Pacific Partnership (a trade deal which Trump and Bernie Sanders vehemently oppose), Obama spent five minutes raising the issue of Trump’s fitness for national office and also called upon other Republicans to rescind their endorsement of the NY real estate mogul.
“I am really confident I can make the case that this is good for American workers and the American people”, Obama said.
Obama made the case that the TPP would lower tariffs on US goods while also making markets more fair for the country’s workers by making other nations abide by stricter labor and environmental standards. Obama honored Loong and his spouse, Ho Ching at the 12 state dinner during his presidency.
Lee, in his remarks, described the U.S.as a longtime stabilizing influence in the Asia-Pacific and said it has put its reputation on the line over the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
“To Mr and Mrs Lee, and to the friendship and partnership and our peoples, let’s continue to build something special, together”, Obama said.
In a pitch to the political left, he also said that because of TPP, labor standards in Vietnam were improving and Malaysia was more seriously tackling human trafficking.
“The agreement fails to adequately address currency manipulation and misses the mark on rules of origin to stop backdoor trade cheats”, said Murphy, chairman of the Congressional Steel Caucus.
Lee said that countries like Japan would rethink whether America’s military support could be guaranteed.
Singapore, a city-state of 5.7 million people, is heavily dependent on worldwide trade for its prosperity.
They also emphasized the importance of all participating countries to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement expeditiously, and both committed to strengthen trade capacity building among TPP members. The Obama administration says the goal of the agreement is to boost USA economic growth and create “high-quality American jobs” by increasing exports. But in just one generation, Singaporeans have turned their country into a first world nation that is helping shape a more peaceful and prosperous Asia Pacific. He paid tribute to the tiny nation’s transformation from third-world country to a first-world country, saying it “punches above its weight”.
In typical fashion for state dinners, the Obamas greeted Prime Minister and Mrs Lee personally outside the North Portico, before escorting them to the dinner.
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Citizens had good reason to celebrate Lee’s US trip, given that the last visit by a Singaporean prime minister to the White House was in 1985 by Lee’s father, the late Lee Kuan Yew.
