In the United States, the Senate has voted to end debate on a measure to give President Obama fast-track authority to negotiate the secretive 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, or TPP. The measure would let Obama present the deal to Congress for a yes-or-note vote with no amendments. It advanced despite opposition across the political spectrum, from lawmakers including Alabama Republican Senator Jeff Sessions and Democratic Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, who said the TPP would lead to job loss.

Sen. Sherrod Brown: “We make decisions here that throw people out of work. And even The Wall Street Journal editorial page, the greatest cheerleader, the most vigorous, vociferous cheerleader for free trade of any newspaper in the country, I believe, even they acknowledge people are thrown out of work from trade agreements because of the dislocation. But we’re going leave here, and we’re going to vote on this without even having amendments on how to take care of those workers and how to do trade enforcement. It simply doesn’t make sense.”