President Trump Takes First Step To Leave Trans-Pacific Partnership
WASHINGTON (CBSNewYork/CBS News/AP) - President Donald Trump is signing a memorandum to leave the proposed Pacific Rim trade pact known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
The move is basically a formality, since the agreement had yet to receive required Senate ratification. Trade experts say that approval was unlikely to happen given voters' anxiety about trade deals and the potential for job losses.
TPP was a trade deal between the U.S. and Japan, Australia, Vietnam, Canada and Mexico and more that would have eliminated thousands of tariffs and streamlined regulations. The countries involved in the deal collectively conduct 40 percent of global trade, CBS News reported.
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"Everyone knows what that means, right? We've been talking about this for a long time," Mr. Trump said as he signed the order withdrawing the U.S. from the TPP. "Great thing for the american worker, what we just did."
It remains unclear if Trump would seek individual deals with the 11 other nations in TPP-- a group that represents roughly 13.5 percent of the global economy, according to World Bank figures.
Trump has blamed past trade deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and China's entrance into the World Trade Organization for a decline in U.S. factory jobs.
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