How President Obama is using the Consumer Electronics Show as a political opportunity

The Consumer Electronics Show may be the country's biggest yearly confab for wacky and futuristic gadgets, but for White House trade officials, it's something else: A political opportunity.

President Barack Obama dispatched his top trade negotiator to Las Vegas to talk up the benefits of a major multilateral deal on international business before a number of tech companies, in hopes that the companies will pressure their representatives in Washington to vote for the trade agreement when the time comes. The trade deal, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, has support from the US Chamber of Commerce and other business groups. It eliminates thousands of foreign tariffs on US exports, potentially making it easier for American companies to sell their goods abroad. At the same time, it has attracted stiff opposition from labor organizations and even some presidential candidates, some of whom worry the TPP will hurt working-class wages and others who say the deal doesn't help the United States enough. That's led to questions about whether President Obama has enough support in Congress to ratify the deal.