On April 12, 2018: President Donald Trump is reportedly considering re-entering Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations after repeatedly disparaging the agreement during his campaign and abandoning ongoing negotiations as one of his first acts in office.
The TPP, initiated by Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, was viewed as a pillar of U.S. commitment to Asia. It was also seen by the Obama administration as a way to put the United States in the driver’s seat when writing the rules of global trade. Chinese officials saw the agreement as a way to contain China’s rise. But the Obama administration never officially entered due to a lack of congressional approval.
The existing eleven Asia-Pacific members of the TPP include Canada, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Japan, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand. These countries just signed the TPP, without the United States, in March this year.
Trump’s purported change of heart comes at a time when the United States and China are engaged in a tit-for-tat tariff war.
Trump empowered National Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow and U.S. Trade Representative Tony Lighthizer to negotiate America’s entry into the Obama-era trade agreement during a White House meeting on trade and agriculture Thursday this week.
