Free Trade and Secrecy Don't Mix

The Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement linking several economies—those of the U.S., Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, and eight other Pacific Rim countries, whose output exceeds $28 trillion—is being billed as the largest such pact in U.S. history. Along with another trade deal under way with the European Union, the TPP would create tens of thousands of jobs in the U.S. and help spur growth in the global economy. Not incidentally, it could also provide a much-needed salve to a wounded White House.

But both pacts could founder for some of the same reasons President Obama’s health-care law is in trouble: the administration’s penchant for secrecy and a reluctance to consult lawmakers. The president risks losing both deals unless members of Congress are allowed to help define their contents.