US lawmakers derail Obama's trade agenda

US lawmakers dealt a stinging blow Friday to President Barack Obama and his ambitious trade agenda, stalling a measure that would have given him fast-track authority to conclude a trans-Pacific trade accord.

The vote, in which two-thirds of the House of Representatives opposed a workers aid program in the trade package, marked a defeat for the president, who had personally come to Capitol Hill earlier in the day in a failed bid to persuade fellow Democrats to back him.

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Immediately afterwards, the House actually passed the bill that would give Obama "Trade Promotion Authority" (TPA) to rapidly conclude the Pacific trade deal and send it to Congress for an up-or-down vote.

But it was merely a show vote because the rejection of the workers aid measure automatically put the brakes on TPA.

Both measures passed the Senate as a package; if either of them fails in the House, neither reaches the president's desk.

A bruised Obama urged the House to vote again "as soon as possible" so US businesses can "sell goods made in America to the rest of the world," while his spokesman Josh Earnest cast the failure as "another procedural snafu."

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters he was "disappointed" in the result and warned Democrats it was time to "seriously rethink" their position ahead of a possible new vote on the measure next week.

TPA would allow Obama to finalize negotiations with 11 other Pacific Rim countries on what would be the largest trade agreement ever, a massive pact with Japan, Australia, Canada, Chile, Vietnam and others encompassing some 40 percent of global commerce.