Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama urged Congress to back two priorities for U.S. multinational corporations: broader authority for his administration to negotiate trade deals, and changes to immigration laws.

In his State of the Union address to Congress Tuesday, Obama sought fast-track authority to give lawmakers an up-or-down vote on trade deals as the U.S. tries to complete agreements with the European Union and Pacific nations.

"We need to work together on tools like bipartisan trade- promotion authority to protect our workers, protect our environment, and open new markets to new goods stamped 'Made in the USA,'" Obama said, according to prepared remarks. "China and Europe aren't standing on the sidelines. Neither should we."

The speech contained energy, transportation and tax proposals that if carried out would affect a variety of U.S. companies. Obama plans to encourage corporate executives to hire long-term unemployed workers, and the administration will announce partnerships with Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., Sprint Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc. to connect schools to broadband technology.

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