Donald Trump says the US will only rejoin the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) if terms are “substantially better”
Donald Trump late last night said he will only rejoin the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) if it offered “substantially better” terms than those offered to former President Barack Obama.
Trump ditched the TPP, a multinational trade pact between 11 members, including Australia, Japan, Canada and Mexico, as one of his first acts as US President.
His comments via Twitter came just after he unexpectedly indicated the US may rejoin the pact, asking US trade representative Robert Lighthizer and White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow to take another look at the TPP.
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Would only join TPP if the deal were substantially better than the deal offered to Pres. Obama. We already have BILATERAL deals with six of the eleven nations in TPP, and are working to make a deal with the biggest of those nations, Japan, who has hit us hard on trade for years!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2018
In his tweet Trump also said: “We have BILATERAL trade deals with six of the eleven nationals in TPP, and are working to make a deal with the biggest of those nations, Japan, who has hit us hard on trade for years!”
Before Trump’s tweet, Japan’s finance minister, Taro Aso, told reporters he would welcome the news if true, according to Reuters, though he added “[Trump] may say something different the next day”.
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