President Barack Obama has urged the US Congress to quickly approve a 12-nation Pacific trade pact early in 2016, telling reporters the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was essential to the American economy as well as national security.

Obama last week gave Congress 90 days' notice that he would sign the TPP deal, which seeks to remove trade barriers and set common standards in 40 per cent of the world economy.

Congress must approve the pact before it can take effect.

"We strongly believe that on a bipartisan basis, we should get this done," Obama told reporters on Friday.

"As soon as the 90-day review period is completed and the new session of Congress begins after the Christmas break, I am hoping that leaders in both parties and both chambers move promptly to get it done," Obama said.

Obama is due to embark on Saturday on a nine-day trip to Asia where the TPP will be a focus. He will also attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Manila on Nov. 18 and 19.

To bolster his case he gathered a who's who of Republican and Democratic national security luminaries at the White House on Friday, including former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger, James Baker, Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell; former defense secretary Bill Cohen; and retired military brass Mike Mullen and James Jones.

They all agreed a failed deal would leave a "void" that would be filled by China and other competitors.

"They will make the rules, and those rules will not be to our advantage," Obama said.

Missing from the group was Hillary Clinton, Obama's former secretary of state, who is the frontrunner in the Democratic race for the November 2016 presidential election.

Clinton has said she opposes the TPP. The deal has also been criticised by others in the Republican presidential primary race.