One of the casualties of the U.S. government’s two-week shutdown was President Barack Obama’s long-planned trip earlier this month to participate in the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Bali, Indonesia.
The president’s cancellation was a potential setback to his efforts to move ahead with the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact that is a key part of his so-called pivot toward Asia. The White House has said it would like to see a final deal on the table by the end of the year or early 2014—a very aggressive timetable for an agreement that would create a free trade zone encompassing a third of the world’s economy.
