President Barack Obama's Politically Fraught Trade Quest In Washington Trailed

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, speaks with U.S. President Barack Obama during a concert at the G-7 summit at Schloss Elmau hotel near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, southern Germany, Sunday, June 7, 2015. The two-day summit will address such issues as climate change, poverty and the situation in Ukraine.

The leaders spent more than an hour privately discussing trade issues as they opened a two-day meeting of the Group of Seven leading industrial nations.
The talks in the majestic Bavarian Alps coincided with the delicate debate in Washington over giving Obama the authority to move trade agreements through Congress more quickly.

In addition to the summit events at Schloss Elmau, a one-time artist retreat turned luxury spa, Obama met privately with British Prime Minister David Cameron and joined German Chancellor Angela Merkel for beer and sausages in a nearby town.

From left, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Japanese President Shinzo Abe, French President Francois Hollande, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, European Council President Donald Tusk, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Barack Obama, walk to a family photo during the G-7 summit at Schloss Elmau hotel near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, southern Germany, Sunday, June 7, 2015. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Obama and his advisers voiced confidence in the trade push, but the effort faces a deeply uncertain future. The president's own Democratic Party is largely opposed to legislation that allows Congress to reject or approve, but not change, trade deals negotiated by the administration. In an unusual political role reversal, the president's reservoir of support has come from his Republican opponents.