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 Just as Obama's drive to win "fast-track" trade negotiating
authority for the deal entered its most sensitive stage in the U.S.
Congress, Malaysian police announced the discovery of 139 graves in
jungle camps used by suspected smugglers and traffickers of Rohingya
Muslims from Myanmar.
"This new information is very alarming," Democratic Senator Robert
Menendez told Reuters, referring to the burials in the Southeast
Asian country that is part of a massive Pacific trade pact that
Obama wants to complete this year.
Menendez said he no longer intended to back a compromise he helped
craft that would let Malaysia and other countries appearing on a
U.S. black list for human trafficking participate in fast-tracked
trade deals under certain circumstances.
That compromise would have replaced Menendez's tougher language,
currently in a Senate-passed bill pending in the House of
Representatives, which would bar from fast-tracked trade deals
Malaysia and all other countries who earn the worst U.S. human
trafficking ranking.
 Trade experts consider the stricter language a "poison pill" that
could condemn the entire Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to a
laborious congressional approval process.
It would mean that trade deals with countries that have the lowest
"Tier 3" ranking on trafficking from the State Department cannot be
fast tracked, so either the TPP could not be expedited or Malaysia
would have to leave.
The Menendez compromise was never voted upon in the Senate. By
backing away now, he hopes to build support in Congress for
maintaining his original, tougher language.
"I'd like to try if it's possible to keep it as it is," said
Menendez.
Having fast-track negotiating authority in place would allow Obama
to negotiate the TPP, which links a dozen countries and covers 40
percent of the world economy, knowing Congress only has a yes-or-no
vote and could not pick the deal apart.
The White House is working with Republicans on a legislative
sleight-of-hand that would allow the House to vote on the fast-track
bill containing the tougher language, betting it will be overridden
by softer language that they advance in companion trade legislation.
But opposition from Menendez - an influential voice on foreign
affairs who backed two of three major trade deals in 2011 - and
other lawmakers could make that more difficult.
Most of Obama’s Democratic Party and some Republicans are opposed to
fast-track.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi supports the original language
and believes it is "an important step in advancing the debate over
human rights as the TPP is negotiated," her spokesman said.
 The Malaysia revelations come as the U.S. State Department prepares
to release its annual human trafficking scorecard this month and
decide whether to keep the country at Tier 3 following a downgrade
last year. The discovery of the graves puts pressure on the State Department to
keep Malaysia on Tier 3, but it's no sure bet it will. The State
Department draws a distinction between smuggling and trafficking.
Smuggling, done with the consent of those involved, differs from
trafficking, in which people are trapped by force or deception into
labor or prostitution.
While the graves were found in an area long known for the smuggling
of Rohingya and local villagers reported seeing Rohingya in the
area, Malaysia's Deputy Home (Interior) Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku
Jaafar has said it's unclear whether those killed were illegal
migrants or legal foreign workers.
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"THE MALAYSIA FIX"
The State Department would need to show that Malaysia has neither
fully complied with minimum anti-trafficking standards nor made
significant efforts to do so to justify keeping Malaysia on Tier 3.
Malaysia has an estimated two million illegal migrant laborers, many
of whom work in conditions of forced labor under employers and
recruitment companies in sectors ranging from electronics to palm
oil and domestic service.
Among the 12 TPP countries, Brunei has also come under attack by
human-rights groups for adopting Islamic criminal law, which
includes punishing offenses like sodomy and adultery with the death
penalty, including by stoning. Vietnam's Communist government has
been criticized for jailing dissidents.
The trade battle could peak in the deeply divided House around
mid-June if Republican House Speaker John Boehner estimates there
are enough votes to pass a bill that he favors.
For many wavering lawmakers, the main worry is the economic impact
the deal would have on their home districts.
Behind the scenes, House Republican leaders and the White House,
which sees trade deals as a way to engage trading partners in debate
on issues like human rights, have worked hard on what some were
calling "the Malaysia fix" to soften the language.
The Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Paul
Ryan, said the original language would unfairly punish other TPP
partners, such as Japan and Australia, and the issue was best dealt
with in a customs enforcement bill that is intended to move through
Congress along with fast-track.
"We shouldn’t confer Malaysia’s sins to these other countries that
we’re trying to get agreements with,” he told reporters.
Some House Democrats said neither the original Menendez language nor
the compromise version are enough.
"Congress should insist that Malaysian laws and practices change to
meet international standards before we vote on TPP," said Sander
Levin, a senior House Democrat.
(Additional reporting by Al-Zaquan Amer Hamzah in Kuala Lumpur and
David Lawder in Washington; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, Jason Szep
and Stuart Grudgings)
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