In a vast deal covering myriad goods and services, Mr. Hatch is objecting to language that would limit brand-name drug makers’ monopoly protections abroad for their new, cutting-edge medicines known as biologics. In recent days he went so far as to call for the agreement to be renegotiated, during a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which backs the accord.
Now all sides are mulling whether Mr. Hatch’s remarks are a potentially fatal blow to Mr. Obama’s chance of winning Congress’s approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or just the latest legislative bluff in a long line of them from the wily, deal-making senator, intended to extract advantage elsewhere.
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