In his annual State of the Union address, US President Barack Obama missed an opportunity to underscore the value of strengthened trade relations with Asia, says Curtis Chin, Managing Director of RiverPeak Group.

Curtis believes that whilst it’s understandable that Obama mostly focused on issues at home while spending relatively less time speaking about foreign affairs, he did little to convince skeptics of his commitment to the work it will take to move forward a comprehensive trade agreement with 11 Asian-Pacific nations.

Armed with stats -28% of U.S. goods and 27% of U.S. services exports go to Asia; 8.5 million visitors from Asia contribute $41 billion to the US economy – Curtis explains that “America’s security and prosperity are closely and increasingly linked to Asia and the Pacific.” He goes on to say that Obama has another chance to communicate this message during an upcoming three-day visit to and summit in India; Curtis suggests he addresses this critical point.

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