This Princeton professor posted his CV of failures for the world to see

We all have failures in our careers. But usually we keep quiet about it.


Not this Princeton professor, who recently shared his CV of failures on Twitter for the world to see.

It includes sections titled "Degree programs I did not get into," "Research funding I did not get" and "Paper rejections from academic journals."


Why did he do it?





Source: Princeton University


Princeton University campus lawn


"Most of what I try fails, but these failures are often invisible, while the successes are visible. I have noticed that this sometimes gives others the impression that most things work out for me," Princeton assistant professor of psychology and public affairs Johannes Haushofer wrote on the CV.


Projecting only success and never recognizing failure has damaging effects, Haushofer wrote. So he decided to do something about it. He's among a number of other professionals who have posted their CVs of failures in an effort to change people's self-perception. He credited the idea to an article by Melanie I. Stefan, who is a lecturer at the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Edinburgh


"[People] are more likely to attribute their own failures to themselves, rather than the fact that the world is stochastic, applications are crapshoots, and selection committees and referees have bad days. This CV of Failures is an attempt to balance the record and provide some perspective," he said.


The pièce de résistance on Haushofer's CV of failures? His "meta-failure."


"This darn CV of Failures has received way more attention that my entire body of academic work," the document reads.

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Forget China GDP, follow these 3 trends: Expert

Recent developments in China's private sector point to slower growth ahead, despite a GDP report on Friday that showed gains in line with expectations, said Leland Miller, president of China Beige Book International.

China reported GDP grew 6.7 percent in the first quarter. But Miller said China GDP is a "terrible" figure to follow because the model is poorly constructed and tracks aggregate growth, but not productive gains.

The data point masks what Miller says are three major trends driving China's economic future. At China's private firms, investment spending has plunged, layoffs are ticking up and borrowing has come to a standstill, China Beige Book International research shows.

"If you have firms that don't want to borrow, and they don't want to spend, and they increasingly don't want to hire, you're going to have a hard time goosing growth no matter what you're doing," Miller told CNBC's "Squawk Box."

These developments are bad for growth in the short term, but healthy for the Chinese economy in the long term because they combat overcapacity across industries, he said.

At the same time, state-owned firms have not pared back spending or cut jobs in a meaningful way, Miller said.

"The Chinese government has stopped their reform process and decided to ease off the gas, and slow down reform, and slow down restructuring," he said. "It means that they're taking more debt and they're putting off their problems for longer."

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Nordstrom to cut 350 to 400 jobs

An employee arranges cosmetic products in a container in a Nordstrom Inc. store

Nordstrom says it will be cutting about 350 to 400 jobs as it looks to be more nimble at a time where shoppers are shifting their spending more online.

The upscale department store, based in Seattle, says the cuts will be primarily in its corporate center and regional support teams. The process should be completed by the end of its fiscal second quarter. The changes will mean $60 million in savings for the current fiscal year.

Nordstrom says that it's first looking at closing unfilled open positions to minimize the impact on current employees.

The changes come as Nordstrom, like other retailers, tries to integrate its physical stores with online services and improve its supply network.

The layoffs follow job cuts by other retailers including Wal-Mart andMacy's.

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Used car prices are falling for the first time since 2008

Used car prices look set to suffer their first meaningful decline since 2008. And the likely culprit is the strong number of new vehicle sales.

According to "NADA Used Car Guide," used car prices will fall 5 to 6 percent this year. And while some may be tempted to draw from that negative conclusions about the U.S. economy, NADA executive analyst Jonathan Banks explains that the drop is reflective of rising supply, rather than falling demand.

"2016 marks the first year where we have a material increase in used supply," Banks said Friday on CNBC's "Trading Nation."

He explains that recently, record-high used car prices have been spurred by a lack of used car supply, which in turn was caused by low new vehicle sales as a result of the recession. That trend is now reversing.

The supply of used cars "is driven by 2013 lease returns coming back into the market, which represents about an 800,000 increase compared to 2015," Banks said.

In that way, the drop in used car prices is "a byproduct of the strong new vehicle sale success we've been having."

So will used car prices continue to drop, as cars that were leased when new continue to come back onto the market?

It's possible, says Banks, adding that "one of the wildcards is the new vehicle incentives."

There is "more risk" of lower prices "if there's a continuation of the incentives that are stoking new vehicle sales," he said.

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What XO in an email really means

Diane Sawyer does it. Lena Dunham does it. My (male) rabbi does it. Executives from Twitter, Corcoran, Visa, law firms, Citibank and UTA do it. Even the dictionary mentions it.

Working women. We're all business. But increasingly, sentiments that were otherwise reserved for casual notes have worked their way into the every day fabric of our business communication.

Portra Images | Getty Images

Enter the XO Nation, a virtual sisterhood of professional women. As we are growing stronger both in numbers in the workplace and in leadership roles, women have found a new way of showing support: by signing "XO" at the end of emails to one another even if the initial contact was a casual acquaintance.

So the question is, if once upon a time in childhood you signed "xo" at the end of a cutesy letter, is this the same sign off that you might legitimately use today to wrap up a business email? The answer, perhaps surprisingly, is "yes."

"X" and "O" together have long been regarded as a typographic representation of a hug and a kiss. In the physical world, we reserve kisses and hugs for those we genuinely love or desire. But in the world of professional communication, women are now using "XO" in order to convey camaraderie and solidarity, not literal, tender fondness.

While the number of women in the American workforce makes a steady, upward progression, the gender pay gap is in a holding pattern. Today, women represent nearly 50 percent of the workforce but on average they earn 79 percent of what men earn for similar jobs. Now more than ever, women are coming together to change that. 

The national discourse on pay inequity has been ramping up. In 2009, Lilly Ledbetter sparked outrage when she publicly revealed that she earned 40 percent less than her male counterparts at Goodyear. The dialogue recently gained momentum when Patricia Arquette's 2015 Academy Award acceptance speech dovetailed into passionate plea for equal pay. And even more recently when in the wake of the Sony hacks, Jennifer Lawrence publicly addressed glaring difference between her pay and that of her male co-stars.

Women need to support women to make social change happen. And the XO Nation is emblematic of that change.

The "XO" Nation, however, is more than just a solidarity movement. It's a strategic, humanizing strategy. Sometimes, we just need to prove that, for as tough as we are, we're also compassionate. Because let's face it, the world is both ready for and threatened by strong women. We use "XO" when we need to because sometimes we just need to remind people that although we just came out swinging a sledgehammer, we're good people and we care. It signals that we will use our influence to assist colleagues in the marketplace to help. Count on me to lend a hand. 

Arianna Huffington is among those who signs her email "XO." And many of us do, too, both in email and on social media. Embellishing a post with #xoxo is a commonplace way to show support.

It's even becoming de rigueur to the point that men are getting into the act, signing off "XO" as proof of their congeniality. Could it be that women are changing the rules of corporate communication? Are we changing the script for everyone?

There will always be the naysayers. You may think that writing "XO" sends the wrong message. To tighten the message, you can always add a "Hope you're well" and then go for the XO. The balance is sound.

When you do sign off to a colleague or acquaintance with "XO," the message you communicate resonates: I'm savvy. I know what I'm talking about. I like you. I'm likable. And no matter what, you can count on me. XO.

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Warren Buffett: This business is down 'considerably,' and will remain depressed

Warren Buffett

Legendary investor Warren Buffett said Saturday that Berkshire Hathaway's railroad business has fallen drastically, and the pain is likely to continue.

"The railroad [business] is down considerably in the first quarter, and will most likely remain down for the year," Buffett, also known as the Oracle of Omaha, said at his annual shareholders meeting. In 2014, Berkshire said its BNSF, its railroad operation, had let investors down, but referred to the operation as its"most important" non-insurancebusiness.

Buffett displayed a slide with preliminary first-quarter after tax earnings, which showed Berkshire's railroad, utilities and energy segment fell $221 million year over year.

The slide also showed a $267 million decline within the firm's insurance underwriting business. Buffett said there were more catastrophe insurance payments than usual in the first quarter due to hailstorms.

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Need job advice? Try turning to your financial advisor for help

Financial advisors are starting to recognize the important role they can play in their clients' career journeys.

"When it comes to financial well-being, your career is the most important aspect of your financial picture," said certified financial planner Avani Ramnani, director of financial planning and wealth management for Francis Financial.

Mike Kane | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The financial advisory field has traditionally been focused on investments and returns, she noted.

"It's important, but it's not the whole picture," Ramnani added. "The way to succeed is to focus on your income and what you can control, which are aspects of your career."

To that end, Ramnani and her fellow advisors maintain a network of career coaches for the benefit of the firm's clients.

"We do the due diligence for our clients, to find the right fit," she said. "We also pay for the first consultation, because we don't want [the initial cost] to be a hurdle for them."

Ramnani has found that working with career coaches has especially helped clients in transitions such as embarking on self employment, changing industries or reentering the workforce.

Some advisors leverage their own career experience to help their clients, said certified financial planner Kathryn Hauer. Prior to starting Wilson David Investment Advisors, she worked for 20 years in the construction industry.

"Most of my career, I worked with blue-collar workers," she said. "They felt lesser because they didn't go to college."

Their needs inspired Hauer to open an advisory firm to serve them. She describes her practice focus as heavy on education.

"People were talking about retiring from a dysfunctional career. I realized that if we could focus on getting their career working for them, the desire to retire early goes away."-Michael Haubrich, president of the Financial Service Group

"They have a lot of questions about careers," she said. "They ask if their child should go to college. "You don't have to go to college to be successful, but there's a lot of pressure," Hauer added. "I advise them about vocations in the trades."

She tells clients they need to first get educated on certificate programs, for example. Then "they can go to college later on, through a company tuition program," Hauer said.

Hauer also works with clients who are thinking about retiring from a trade, researching career options for them and making suggestions for post-retirement jobs. "I made a big career change, so I give encouragement to clients who want to do the same," she said.

Niv Persaud, CFP and founder of Transition Planning & Guidance, is another career changer. Before starting her practice, Persaud worked as a recruiter for an executive search firm.

While the core of her business focuses on financial matters, she uses her expertise to help clients optimize their job searches, spending about 20 percent of her time on career consulting.

"Understanding their financial needs to support their lifestyle gives people motivation for their job search," Persaud said, explaining the link between her roles as a financial planner and a career advisor.

One frequent scenario Persaud sees is women reentering the workforce after many years on the sideline, usually after a divorce. About 70 percent of her clients are women. "I help them through the trauma and refer them to career counselors," Persaud said.

Supplementing the work with outside professionals, she offers a job-search boot camp to help clients understand themselves and understand what recruiters are looking for. The end result is an action plan for the job search, with strategies on how to connect with recruiters.

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Helping clients with their careers has been a big part of Michael Haubrich's practice for 10 years.

A CFP and president of the Financial Service Group, Haubrich moved toward these services as a way to get clients to think differently about retirement. About 25 percent of his time is related to career assistance.

"People were talking about retiring from a dysfunctional career," he said. "I realized that if we could focus on getting their career working for them, the desire to retire early goes away."

Haubrich saw the importance of finding work in retirement and learning how to ease into it. He sought out career counselors for his clients and suddenly had an "aha moment.""Clients felt they couldn't afford to make the changes they wanted to make," Haubrich said. "And I realized there was a need for the financial advisor to be part of the process. My niche is in working collaboratively with the career counselors."

He has since developed the notion of treating one's career as an asset and has even authored a book on the subject: "Career Asset Management: Getting Ahead, Staying Ahead and Using Your Head to Maximize Your Career Value."

Haubrich encourages appropriate clients to set up accounts such as a "career assets working capital" fund to hedge against varied compensation and job changes, or a "career development sabbatical" fund, to enable a client to get the training or education needed to change careers.

He also constantly checks in with clients on the status of what he calls "career sustainability habits" — lifelong learning, benchmarking and networking.

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Kuwait oil, gas workers end strike, pledge to push production back up

Kuwaiti oil and gas workers have ended a three-day strike that had temporarily cut the OPEC member's crude production by nearly half, the trade union said in a statement posted on its Twitter account.

"In honor of his highness the Emir ... we have decided the following. First, the cancellation of the general strike and the attendance of all oil sector workers at their places of work beginning at seven in the morning on Wednesday 20 April 2016," the Oil & Petrochemicals Industries Workers Confederation wrote.

The union further pledged "to make every effort to immediately return production to its previous level."

News of the strike's end came just hours after Kuwait's oil minister had ruled out negotiations with the employees until they stopped their action, while one of the union leaders said the thousands of workers would hold out until planned public sector pay cuts were canceled.

U.S. oil prices fell slightly after the news. Oil markets had rallied this week as the strike forced Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) to cut output to as little as 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd), down from a normal level of about 3 million bpd. By Tuesday output had recovered to around 1.5 million bpd.

Workers fear reduced salaries, benefits and staff layoffs will be part of a planned government overhaul of the payroll system in the public sector.

In an interview with Kuwaiti TV channel al-Rai, Kuwait's acting oil minister, Anas al-Saleh, said production would continue and that no talks would proceed during a strike.

"We cannot sit down at the negotiating table with the unions during a strike. We will achieve the impossible to continue to operate the oil sector despite the strike," Saleh said.

Unions had not said how long the walkout would last. Non-Kuwaiti oil workers are not on strike.

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Cramer: Don't just listen to Carl Icahn on Apple

Jim Cramer watched as the market was roaring strong on Thursday, until about 2 pm Eastern. That's when investor Carl Icahn told CNBC that he sold Apple over concerns of Chinese weakness.

Those comments sent the market plummeting, and Apple lost another 3 percent.

Cramer understood why investors would feel nervous that Icahn doesn't like the iPhone maker anymore. After being such a supporter of the stock, it may have been jarring to hear that he exited his position.

"You have to decide for yourself whether you like a stock or you don't. You have to rely on your own judgment, not Carl Icahn's, when determining whether to love or hate individual companies. It's your money, not his," the "Mad Money" host said.

Carl Icahn at Delivering Alpha 2015 in New York.

"I think rather than focusing on Icahn likes or dislikes — and I love the guy — we need to focus on what this market wants out of a company."

So, why not just sell everything?

Cramer reminded investors that there are still plenty of companies that are delivering on their promises. Those investors that sold into Thursday afternoon's weakness would have missed out on strength inLinkedIn, Expedia and especially Amazon—which almost doubled the profits expected.

"I think rather than focusing on Icahn likes or dislikes—and I love the guy—we need to focus on what this market wants out of a company," Cramer said.

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One stock that displayed exactly what a company can do in this environment was Facebook, which soared 7 percent Thursday. In fact, Cramer thinks it should have been up more than it was on Thursday.

The company's revenues were up a staggering 52 percent year-over-year and came in approximately $150 million above analyst consensus.

"The numbers are downright sterile compared to what is really going on at Facebook," Cramer explained.

Cramer added that the magic behind Facebook is that it has managed to transform how people live their lives, and make an impact that most businesses can only dream of. It now has 1.09 billion daily active users that spend around one hour a day on their page, Instagram or messenger.

That is one billion more people who found time to be on a network that didn't exist a dozen years ago.

Facebook grows its gross margins by including more ads, because users create more content. And it's all done on a phone, which Cramer thinks is the real secret, because a phone is always with them.

Ultimately, there is plenty of life left in Facebook, Amazon and LinkedIn.

"Before you throw out everything because one smart man is worried about them ... For all the sturm and drang about tech, the F and the A in FANG look pretty darned good. Two out of four aren't bad! " Cramer said.

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Why Apple's China problem is likely to get much, much worse

Apple is coming off a 26 percent sales decline in Greater China, the steepest drop among its five regions.

More worrisome: The greatest risks lie ahead.

That's the view of a growing chorus of experts and prognosticators concerned about the unpredictability of the Chinese government.

Earlier this month, China shut down iTunes Movies and iBooks just six months after Apple introduced the services there. Billionaire investorCarl Icahn told CNBC on Thursday that he sold his Apple shares because "you worry a little bit — and maybe more than a little — about China's attitude."

Analysts from UBS and Goldman Sachs have published recent reports discussing China's potential power to thwart Apple's growth, and Eurasia Group founder Ian Bremmer said earlier this week that China is very likely to limit Apple's access to the country's consumer base.

Looking at the competition, it's clear that history doesn't favor Apple.

Google, Facebook and Twitter are shut out of China, while enterprise vendors IBM, Cisco and Hewlett-Packard have struggled in the world's second-biggest economy because of government-favored domestic rivals.

For Apple, it's a massive overhang. Greater China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan) accounts for 25 percent of revenue and has supplied the majority of its growth, thanks to the rapid expansion of the Chinese middle class.

Apple in Greater China

Quarter	Sales (blns)	YOY change
Q2 '16	$12.5	-26%
Q1 '16	$18.4	+14%
Q4 '15	$12.5	+99%
Q3' 15	$13.2	112%
Q2 '15	$16.8	71%
Q1 '15	$16.1	70%
Q4 '14	$6.3	1%
Q3 '14	$6.2	35%
Q2 '14	$9.8	11%

Source: Apple

"It bears watching whether the recent ban of Apple's iTunes and iBooks stores in China has broader implications for how friendly the environment remains for Apple to grow its business in the country," Goldman Sachs analyst Simona Jankowski wrote in a report Wednesday following the company's disappointing second-quarter earnings release.

Apple shares plunged 10.3 percent this week as of Thursday's close to $94.83

Jankowski, who still recommends buying the shares, pointed out that the dramatic drop in revenue from Greater China came after five-straight periods in which growth exceeded overall expansion.

Apple CEO Tim Cook refused to sound the alarm. Hong Kong represented "the vast majority of the weakness," with sales in mainland China falling 11 percent, Cook said on the earnings call. When removing the impact of currency swings, mainland revenue was down 7 percent.

Cook also reminded investors that comparable figures were particularly difficult in the quarter because mainland revenue a year ago surged 81 percent on iPhone and Mac sales. 

"And so as I back up from this and look at the larger picture, I think China is not weak as has been talked about," Cook said. We "may not have the wind at our backs that we once did, but it's a lot more stable than what I think is the common view of it. And so we remain really optimistic on China."

However, Cook didn't address the geopolitical risks, which are very real. An Apple spokesperson declined to provide further comment.

Apple has just been through a high-profile battle with the FBI over whether the company should be required to help law enforcement unlock an iPhone tied to the San Bernadino, California, terrorists attacks.

The Justice Department, in attempting to refute Apple's claim that it won't compromise consumer privacy, said in a legal filing last month (citing Apple's data) that the company helped the Chinese on 74 percent of requests for iPhone data in the first half of 2015.

Apple broadly disputed the claims as an "unsupported, unsubstantiated effort to vilify" the company. But coupled with the forced closure of two Apple services, it sparked a bigger debate about how far the Chinese are willing to go in pressuring the company and to what degree Apple would cooperate.

Bremmer of the Eurasia Group said he could see Apple facing the same types of issues that have hampered Facebook, which like so many U.S. websites, is banned in China.

"I'd be very surprised in five years' time if we see Apple having the kind of access to the Chinese consumer that they presently enjoy," Bremmer said.

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Why Airbnb is in talks with one of America's largest unions

Start-up Airbnb and the SEIU, one of the nation's largest labor unions, are in talks for a potential alliance.

The San Francisco-based home rental company offers a platform and income stream for home renters. The Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, represents some 2 million workers. The union has also been a major force and financial supporter in the fight for a $15 minimum wage.

Now as the SEIU and activists work to expand support for higher pay in the absence of congressional action, the large union seems to be making friends in unlikely circles in pursuit of more $15 union jobs.

Getty Images

Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky (l) and Mary Kay Henry, international president of the 2 million-member Service Employees International Union.

"The SEIU has generally been willing to make even unlikely alliances if they think it will benefit workers and help them build their membership ranks."-Chris Tilly, University of California, Los Angeles professor

"We actively and regularly engage in conversations with companies who are committed to doing right by their workforce by paying better wages and giving them a voice at work through their union. Airbnb is one such company," said Sahar Wali, an SEIU spokeswoman. "However, there is no formal relationship or agreement between SEIU and Airbnb," she said.

Airbnb, meanwhile, is considering how it might leverage its vast online platform to help generate good paying union jobs.

"We have been engaged in conversations with organizations and community leaders about how to best help working families find solutions to economic inequality, including creating specific ways we could leverage the Airbnb platform to help create quality union jobs that pay a livable wage," according to Christopher Nulty, an Airbnb spokesman.

So what would Airbnb and the union get from a potential deal?

At the very least, some good will and publicity. And in the case of the SEIU, broader support, including union-paying members.

Co-founded and led by chief executive Brian Chesky, Airbnb has allowed many people to rent homes for income, especially during the recession. Out-of-work Americans are using the rental platform to help create a patchwork of income in a growing freelance economy, sometimes referred to as the gig economy.

But in cities like San Francisco, Airbnb has triggered controversy as critics charge it is displacing long-term tenants as some people convert scarce rental property into essentially motels and hotels for travelers — all without paying local hotel taxes, or meeting regulations as required for the hospitality industry.

Seeking 'unlikely alliances'

The other figure in this potential relationship is the SEIU, led by international president Mary Kay Henry.

The union, with the help of local activists, has been able to transform a broad, sometimes confusing message about economic haves and have-nots (dating back to the Occupy Wall Street movement) into a focused campaign for higher mandated pay.

In 2015, the SEIU spent at least $20 million on the "Fight for $15" movement, according to analysis by the Center for Union Facts, a nonprofit that seeks accountability in America's labor movement.

"The SEIU has generally been willing to make even unlikely alliances if they think it will benefit workers and help them build their membership ranks," says Chris Tilly, an urban planning and sociology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Speaking with the Guardian in April 2015, SEIU international president Henry said the Fight for $15 campaign was worth the investment.

"There is not a price tag you can put on how this movement has changed the conversation in this country," she told the newspaper.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1021 in San Francisco.

Unions are seeking ways to boost members as participation has declined over the decades. Attitudes about unions have shifted among generations. 

"I think unions are a standard piece of American democracy," said Tilly in a separate interview last summer. "But I think that's disappeared from the public discourse."

More recently, the Los Angeles city council on Tuesday approved expanding paid sick leave for workers. But the city council took action on the paid sick leave policy without a union-backed clause that would have exempted unionized workers from an hourly $15 minimum wage.

Union officials have argued the clause would have allowed them to negotiate better overall contracts, while some critics said the exemption would have created an uneven playing field for pay thresholds.

At first take, this sounds confusing. Unions broadly support workers' rights and higher pay. But a handful of cities including San Francisco have pursued strategies that include union waivers in minimum wage laws.

Balancing wages against other compensation such as health care is actually not a new concept. Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, there was a push for "big box" retail stores like Wal-Mart and Home Depot to pay slightly lower mandated wages if they also offered health insurance.

But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce described such union-backed exemptions from minimum wage increases as "escape clauses." 

What's at stake: New union members

While the union clause was eventually dropped in the push before the L.A. city council, unions and activists have already been influential in the "Fight for $15."

According to the Center for Union Facts, the $20 million the SEIU spent last year is likely much higher, as it excludes some staff salaries, expenses paid for legal services, as well as money paid to minimum wage advocacy groups such as the National Employment Law Project and the Economic Policy Institute.

SEIU's funding and support have helped yield results through a region-by-region, city-by-city push for higher wages in the absence of federal action. The federal minimum wage stands at $7.25 an hour.

Gov. Jerry Brown of California recently signed a bill that will raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2022. New York City will see $15 hourly wages by the end of 2018, with slower increases elsewhere in the state.

Dozens of states, and the District of Columbia, have moved to lift mandated pay above the federal threshold.

As the higher wage experiment ripples throughout the economy, a big question is whether unions will be able to convert their wage support into new, dues-paying members.

"The part that matters for SEIU is at some point for this to work for them, in terms of how they work as union, they've got to start collecting dues," said Tilly. "If they succeed in raising minimum wages all over the country but don't end up having more dues-paying members, then that becomes unsustainable," he said.

But as with many organizations, the funding has to come from somewhere.

"The money for these campaigns, the staff for these campaigns, comes from somewhere," said Tilly on the "Fight for $15" campaign. "And it's coming from a portion of dues money."

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Political headwinds blow back on global trade deals

As the pace of global trade slows, so does support for a pair of deals designed to revive it.

With a fresh round of European trade talks getting underway this week, President Barack Obama spent the weekend in Germany trying to counter strong political headwinds at home to his administration's effort to lower trade barriers with Europe.

Obama told a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that moving ahead with the so-called Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership would boost the U.S. and European economies. The United States is Germany's biggest trading partner.

Supporters of the sweeping deal being negotiated with 28 European Union countries say it could add $100 billion a year to U.S. exports.

"The Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is one of the best ways to promote growth and create jobs," Obama told the German newspaper Bild.

But with millions of American voters convinced that global trade has cost the U.S. good-paying job losses, political support for the deal has been fading along with the volume of global trade. 

The anti-free-trade sentiment has propelled Donald Trump to the front of the GOP pack of presidential candidates, including a pledge to reverse the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, the two top U.S. trade partners.

"We will either renegotiate it or we will break it," Trump said last fall, calling it "a disaster. Every agreement has an end. Every agreement has to be fair."

Trump has also vowed to raised tariffs on Mexico and China.

Trump opponent Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has said he opposes any vote on trade deals before the November election. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, also in the race for the GOP nomination, has said he supports "fair" trade.

The Obama administration's trade deals have also gotten a chilly reception from the two Democratic candidates.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who initially supported the idea of expanding Asian-Pacific trade, has come out against the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, saying she doesn't like the terms. (Clinton hasn't taken a position on the ongoing talks to reach a deal with Europe.)

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has opposed various trade deals in Congress, has been as blunt as Trump on the White House's efforts.

Sanders has called the Trans-Pacific Partnership "part of a global race to the bottom to boost the profits of large corporations and Wall Street by outsourcing jobs; undercutting worker rights; dismantling labor, environmental, health, food safety and financial laws; and allowing corporations to challenge our laws in international tribunals rather than our own court system.

Opposition to the European trade deal spans both sides of the Atlantic.

On Saturday, tens of thousands of protesters marched in Hannover, Germany, where Obama attended a trade show, to voice opposition to the deal. Police said 35,000 people took part in the demonstration, while organizers said more than double that number had attended.

The White House has acknowledged it faces an uphill battle selling trade deals to a skeptical public.

"I think that we have to do a better job… to counteract voices that are distorting the reality of trade agreements," U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker told CNBC at the Hannover trade fair.

But with little support from the presidential candidates, the deal's future is not looking bright.

Obama conceded as much on Monday.

"If we don't complete negotiations this year, then upcoming political transitions in the United States and Europe could mean this agreement won't be finished for quite some time," Obama told a news conference

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