Special Report: Obama's first 100 days in White House　

    WASHINGTON, April 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama expressed optimism Wednesday night that troubled U.S. automaker Chrysler could stave off filing for bankruptcy protection.

    At a prime-time news conference capping his 100th day in office, Obama said "unions and creditors have come up with a set of potential concessions that they can live with."

    "All that promises the possibility that you can get a Chrysler-Fiat merger," he said.

    Progress has been made to keep Chrysler out of bankruptcy protection as the U.S. Treasury Department reached a tentative agreement Tuesday with four of the automaker's major debt holders.

    Under the agreement, the four banks would forgo claims to their portion of Chrysler's 6.9-billion-dollar debt in exchange for 2 billion dollars in cash when the deal closes, The Associated Press reported Tuesday, quoting two people familiar with the talks.

    The Treasury needs to persuade all 46 banks and hedge funds that hold Chrysler debt to go along. If not, a bankruptcy filing could still be possible for the nation's third largest automaker, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

    If the remaining debt holders agree to the deal, that leaves a partnership with Italian automaker Fiat Group SpA as the lone remaining hurdle to Chrysler meeting a government-imposed deadline Thursday to complete a number of major restructuring steps and become eligible for further government aid.

    Three days ago, the United Auto Workers reached a deal with Chrysler that would give it a 55 percent stake in the company and assurances over issues like health care.

    The accord will help pave the way for Chrysler to forge an alliance with Fiat before the Thursday deadline to obtain additional rescue loan from the government.

    Chrysler has been living off 4 billion dollars in government funds since the start of the year and would likely need more to avoid bankruptcy.

    Also on Tuesday, a top Fiat executive said he was "confident" ahead of an announcement due on Thursday on a planned alliance between Fiat and Chrysler that could save the struggling U.S. car maker from possible bankruptcy, according to news reports.

    "We are confident but we have to wait until Thursday and respect the decision that will be taken. Negotiations are now in the hands of the U.S. task force, the auto working group put together by President Barack Obama," John Elkann, the deputy head of Fiat, was quoted as saying.