Relations between the United States and Japan will suffer if U.S. President Barack Obama fails to win Congress approval of a Pacific free trade agreement before leaving office in January, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Tuesday.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Obama after they met at the White House, Lee said the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership has implications beyond trade for the Japan-U.S. relationship.

Failure to ratify the agreement would hurt Prime Minister Shinzo Abe domestically and affect Washington's security agreement with Tokyo, he said.