In re-vote, US House passes key trade promotion bill

The US House of Representatives voted Thursday to give President Barack Obama fast-track authority to negotiate a major trans-Pacific trade accord, moving the measure closer to his desk after a dramatic failure last week.

Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) narrowly passed by a 218-208 vote as a stand-alone bill, after congressional leaders uncoupled the measure from a worker-assistance program that crashed to defeat Friday when most of Obama's fellow Democrats voted against it in order to block the full trade package.

TPA now heads to the US Senate, where it could receive a vote as early as next week.