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 Obama has pushed to complete two trade agreements before his term
ends on Jan. 20 - with Pacific nations and with the EU - but has run
into a growing swell of populist concerns about the impact on jobs,
consumer protections and the environment.
"Time is not on our side," he conceded to business leaders at the
Hanover Messe, a massive industrial trade fair.
"If we don't complete negotiations this year, then upcoming
political transitions in the United States and Europe would mean
this agreement won't be finished for quite some time."
Obama is in Germany to promote the Transatlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership (TTIP) with German Chancellor Angela Merkel,
but the issue was overshadowed by discussions on the crises in
Syria, Ukraine and Libya when the two leaders met.
On Monday, they are set to hold talks with British Prime Minister
David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime
Minister Matteo Renzi on some of the same issues.
But first, they had dinner in a 17th century palace with chief
executives of some of the largest U.S. and German companies such as
Microsoft, Dow, Lockheed Martin, Honeywell, BASF, Bayer and Siemens.
 Also at the dinner was Matthias Müller, CEO of Volkswagen, whose
company has admitted to cheating diesel emissions tests in the
United States, a scandal that involves 11 million vehicles
worldwide.
POLITICAL CAPITAL
Obama normally does not sit through lengthy opening ceremonies.
But in a sign of the political capital he is spending on trade - and
his affection for Merkel - he took a front row seat for an unusual
interpretative dance performance featuring robots, futuristic music
and acrobatic break-dancing.
The day before Obama arrived, thousands of protesters holding
placards with slogans like "Stop TTIP" marched to express their
opposition to the deal, and his motorcade whizzed past a few more as
he drove through the north German city.
Obama acknowledged his message about the benefits of trade has not
broken though.
"The benefits oftentimes are diffuse, whereas a particular plant or
business that feels it’s been hurt by outside competition feels it
very acutely," he told reporters.
Obama said he hoped the deal, which supporters say could boost
economies on each side of the Atlantic by $100 billion, would be
agreed this year.
But final ratification will take more time. The Trans Pacific
Partnership is first in the queue for the U.S. Congress, which is
not clamoring to hold a final vote.
Obama said that could change after the Democratic and Republican
parties make their final selections of candidates this summer.
"When we're in the heat of campaigns, people naturally are going to
worry more about what’s lost than what’s gained with respect to
trade agreements," he said. 'RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY'
Germany is the last stop on a six-day foreign tour where Obama has
sought to shore up U.S. alliances he views as important not only for
the economy but also to defeat Islamic State militants and counter
Russian intervention in Syria and Ukraine.
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"Strong growth in Europe is particularly important given the array
of pressing challenges - whether it's security, defense, migration
or refugees," Obama said.
Obama came to Germany from London where he urged Britons to vote to
stay in the European Union in a closely-watched June referendum or
face being at "the back of the queue" as a non-EU member hoping for
a new trade deal with the U.S.
Earlier in the week, he met with Gulf leaders in Riyadh to try to
allay fears that Washington had become less committed to their
security, especially after the nuclear deal with Iran, the regional
rival of Saudi Arabia.
Obama said he was "deeply concerned" about a surge in violence in
Syria, where government forces have stepped up bombing of rebel-held
areas around the strategic city of Aleppo.
Merkel urged the parties participating in troubled peace talks in
Geneva to agree to humanitarian zones where fleeing Syrians could
feel safe from bombardment. She and Obama made clear that they did
not favor the creation of classic "safe zones" which would need to
be protected by foreign forces.
Both leaders expressed concerns about ceasefire violations in
eastern Ukraine and said sanctions imposed against Russia following
its 2014 intervention there, could not be eased if the situation on
the ground did not improve.
Ties between Washington and Berlin reached a low point three years
ago following revelations of widespread surveillance of German
citizens, including the bugging of Merkel's mobile phone, by the
U.S. National Security Agency.
But in recent years, the two Cold War allies have patched things up.
Obama praised Merkel for her "steady leadership" and handling of
Europe's refugee crisis, saying her decision last year to welcome
hundreds of thousands of migrants to Germany had put her "on the
right side of history".
He joked that Merkel, who lacks his easy-going charm, had a "really
good sense of humor" even if it wasn't always on public display,
drawing chuckles from the 61-year-old chancellor.
Merkel refused to be drawn when asked whether she was concerned that
she might soon have to work with Donald Trump, the leading
Republican candidate for president, who has labeled her refugee
policies "insane". She said only that she was watching the American
election campaign "with interest".
(Additional reporting by Joseph Nasr in Berlin; Writing by Noah
Barkin; Editing by Tom Heneghan)
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