Anyone listening to Patrick Cronin’s presentation to the Southeast Connecticut World Affairs Council last Thursday night at Old Lyme High School should have come away convinced that President Obama’s “pivot to Asia” is not only sound foreign policy, but of absolute necessity.

Mr. Cronin is the senior advisor and security director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security in Washington, D.C.

The guest speaker pointed to several facts and trends that demonstrate why the United States must position itself as a major player in Asia-Pacific.

More people now reside in that area than on the rest of the Earth combined.

Many countries in the region, with China at the lead, are devoting massive resources to the digital revolution and development of artificial intelligence, with all the economic, market and military implications that suggests.

By 2020, China will have the largest middle class of any country on the planet. And rising incomes throughout the region will put tremendous stress on natural resources and have serious climate and environmental implications as these populations seek more material comforts.

The need to engage with this region is why President Obama must press forward in seeking “fast-track” status for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. Painstakingly negotiated over the past few years with a dozen countries — including Australia, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan and Malaysia — the deal would lift tariff restrictions inhibiting U.S. access to Asian markets, protect intellectual property, and include trade rules intended to discourage worker and environmental exploitation.

The fast-track provisions, given to presidents dating back 80 years, allows the administration the necessary latitude to negotiate the final details of the pact then bring it to Congress for an up-or-down vote, without amendment.

Failure to approve a trade deal will only boost China’s influence in the Asia-Pacific region and play into its narrative that the United States is a power in decline, warned Mr. Collins.

Senate debate has resumed after Democrats, led by progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, stalled the bill, raising concerns about the American job losses associated with past trade deals. We agree that legislation, including federal support for job training and affordable access to higher education, is necessary to mitigate the dislocating effects of the new global trading system.

However, the world has changed and the United States cannot deny that reality. Congress should give the president the fast-track authority he needs to complete this pivotal trade pact.