Obama Embraces Business Agenda on Exports, Taxes, Debt

President Barack Obama embraced much of the business community’s agenda last night, calling for progress on stalled trade pacts, investments in roads and education, reworking the corporate tax code, and freezing discretionary spending to cut the deficit.

The pledges in the State of the Union address by Obama, who tussled with business groups during the first two years of his term, match requests by chief executive officers from Verizon Communications Inc., Honeywell International Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. in a report they presented to the administration last month.

Obama “has put an olive branch out to business, and it seems like a sincere offer,” said Jim Kessler, vice president for policy at the Third Way, a Washington-based policy group that describes itself as moderate. “The president seems to be focused on growth and making business a partner, not a foil.”

With Republicans taking control of the House of Representatives and U.S. growth still sluggish, Obama said his proposals were aimed at creating jobs and reorienting the economy to confront challenges from abroad.

Instead of pushing contentious issues such as health-care legislation and overhauling financial regulation, as he did in the first two years of his term, Obama focused on investments for growth, which should garner support from corporate leaders, Kessler said.