Barack Obama’s ambitions to pass sweeping new free trade agreements with Asia and Europe fell at the first hurdle on Tuesday as Senate Democrats put concerns about US manufacturing jobs ahead of arguments that the deals would boost global economic growth.

A vote to bring debate on the bill to an end failed as 45 senators voted against it, to 52 in favor, with three senators being absent. Obama needed 60 out of the 100 votes for it to pass.

Failure to move the bill on to try to secure “fast track” negotiating authority from Congress leaves the president’s top legislative priority in tatters.

It may also prove the high-water mark in decades of steady trade liberalisation that has fuelled globalisation but is blamed for exacerbating economic inequality within many developed economies with the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs. Internet activists had said the deal would curb freedom of speech, while other critics charged it would enshrine currency manipulation.

Drama over the landmark trade negotiations has been escalating for weeks, propelling Obama into a public feud with Democrats – going so far as to accuse opposing members within his party of lying about the fast-track bill. The vote marked a rare moment in which Republicans lined up to support the president’s agenda, even as GOP leadership pointed to Obama’s failure to rally his own party in favor of the legislation.



“Really it’s a question of does the president of the United States have enough clout with members of his own political party to produce enough votes to get this bill debated and ultimately passed,” Texas senator John Cornyn, the No 2 Republican in the Senate, told reporters on Capitol Hill.

White House officials dismissed the Senate vote against fast tracking as a “procedural snafu” but without this crucial agreement from lawmakers to give the administration negotiating freedom, it is seen as highly unlikely that international diplomats can complete either of the two giant trade deals currently in negotiation: the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).



The Senate fast-track legislation, known as Trade Promotion Authority or TPA, was facing even tougher opposition in the US House of Representatives.

Opponents have been emboldened by the growing influence of liberal senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders and were joined by all but one Senate Democrat in voting against moving forward with TPA.

Even Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner for the 2016 presidential race and historically a supporter of free trade, has been cautious amid growing concern over the effect of globalisation on middle-class jobs, warning against “trade for trade’s sake”.

But the failure to persuade even the half-dozen Democrats needed to join Republicans in the Senate is a shock reversal from earlier consensus in the finance committee, which had included an agreement to soften the impact on US jobs with Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA). The committee had passed a package of four separate bills related to trade, including one to prevent currency manipulation by China.

The refusal on the part of GOP leadership to bring all four bills to the floor led Oregon senator Ron Wyden, who had led Democrat efforts to find a compromise with Republicans on the committee, to withdraw his support for advancing fast-track authority.



Harry Reid, the Senate Democratic leader, said the “simple pathway forward” to break the impasse would be to put the entire package that passed the committee on the floor.

But White House trade negotiators fear that provisions in the currency bill would prove impossible to introduce into trade talks at this late stage and Republicans have dismissed the issue as a wrecking tactic by Democrats.



“What they basically want to do is get in a room and craft a final bill, then get on it, shut everybody else out and tell the Senate take it or leave it,” Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, told reporters.



When reporters pointed out that the chamber has, on many occasions, pushed through backroom deals, McConnell argued that this was different because the bill had already been openly debated and passed by the relevant committee.



Democratic critics of the broader trade policy heralded the vote as a breakthrough moment.

“We need to fundamentally renegotiate American trade agreements so that our largest export doesn’t become decent-paying American jobs,” said Sanders.



Business leaders expressed disappointment in the vote. The Business Roundtable, Washington’s top business lobby group, had urged the Senate to pass TPA “without delay” arguing the trade pact would support US jobs and spur economic growth.

Tom Linebarger, chairman of the Business Roundtable international engagement committee, said: “We are disappointed with the outcome of today’s vote that would have started Senate debate on TPA legislation. TPA is critical to getting the best possible outcomes in trade negotiations.

“Expanding trade opportunities for America’s businesses and farmers is key to supporting well-paying jobs and delivering much-needed economic growth. We encourage the Senate to act as quickly as possible to consider and pass this bipartisan legislation.”

Last week Obama chose Nike’s headquarters to call for Congress to support the deal. Nike chief executive Mark Parker has claimed the deal would allow it to create 10,000 new jobs in the US. Republicans said it would now be up to Obama to salvage the bill if he wanted to see his trade agenda through.

“This is one of the most important issues that will come before the Congress for business in America, particularly exports,” Arizona senator John McCain told the Guardian after the vote. “They’re going to have to galvanize the business community to put pressure on the Democrats to at least allow votes.”

McConnell acknowledged that Obama had been “working hard” to convince Democrats and expressed hope that the issue would eventually be resolved, but conceded he did not know what would come next.

“We hope to put this in the win column for the country on a bipartisan basis sometime soon,” McConnell said. “This issue’s not over.”