With European trade deal unfinished, Obama to head to Germany in the spring

By Juliet Eilperin

President Obama will head to Hanover, Germany in late April to attend a trade fair, the White House announced Wednesday, part of the administration's push to secure a European trade deal before he leaves office.

Obama will participate in the Hannover Messe, the world’s largest trade show for industrial technology, and will meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during his visit. Administration officials are hoping to make progress on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), negotiations between the United States and the European Union that have taken a back seat to the recently-forged Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). That trade deal encompasses a dozen Pacific Rim countries, including the United States, and it remains unclear whether negotiators can conclude TTIP talks during Obama's final year in office.

[Trade, power and opportunity]

The goal of the ongoing talks is to eliminate tariffs completely between the United States and the European Union, which together generate more than a third of the world's GDP, and harmonize regulations on a range of goods and services,

Obama's visit to the Hannover Messe, which was founded nearly 70 years ago and draws nearly 6,500 exhibitors and 200,000 visitors from across the world, is the first for a sitting American president. It will mark his fifth trip to Germany.

In a statement, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the event "presents an unique opportunity to showcase American innovation and ingenuity and to highlight the United States as a prime investment destination."

Even as Obama consults with European leaders, however, he is stepping up his outreach to key Asian nations early next year. The president is hosting the first-ever U.S. summit with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, Calif. on Feb. 15 and 16.

In a statement Wednesday, Earnest said the upcoming Sunnylands summit "will provide leaders a forum to strengthen cooperation under the new U.S.-ASEAN strategic partnership, launched in November 2015 in Kuala Lumpur, on political, security, and economic issues."