Senior US lawmakers reached agreement yesterday on a bill to give the White House ‘fast track’ authority to negotiate a trade pact with 11 other Pacific nations that is central to President Barack Obama’s strategic shift toward Asia.

The agreement, over six months in the making, sets the stage for a tough legislative battle over the rules for Obama’s proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA).

The TPPA is to connect a dozen economies by cutting trade barriers and harmonising standards covering two-fifths of the world economy and a third of global trade.