President Obama signed a bill designed to protect American companies' trade secrets and took the opportunity to ask Congress to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement.

"Unfortunately one of the problems that we have in [the Asia-Pacific] region is the tendency to steal trade secrets, produce knockoffs for those markets, and we end up losing business," Obama said. "That means we're losing American jobs"

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Obama said the partnership with the 11 Asia-Pacific countries includes measures to fight the theft of American trade secrets in the region.

Roughly RMB 6.5 trillion (USD 300 billion) worth of trade secrets is stolen from American companies annually.

The bill signed into law by Obama is domestically focused. The legislation allows American companies to bypass state courts and sue at the federal level over the theft of intellectual property, speeding up the legal process.

Obama said the new law will deter intellectual property thieves, because it will "hurt them where it counts, in their pocketbook."

Sponsored by Republican senator from Utah Orrin Hatch, the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 easily passed the Senate and the House. The only two votes of opposition came as the legislation passed through Congress on April 27.

David Hirschmann, president and CEO of the Global Intellectual Property Center, said the bill "marks a significant victory for American innovators and American workers."

Hatch lauded the bipartisan work behind the bill as proof "that Republicans and Democrats can work across the aisle in seeking to advance important public policies that will benefit the American people and boost our nation's economy."

As for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, there is no timeline for its vote in Congress. Global Policy Watch reported that such a vote could happen after the elections in November are complete. 

TagsObama, Trans-Pacific Partnership, Asia Pacific, Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016, Intellectual property theft, Orrin Hatch, David Hirschmann, Utah