In Donald Trump’s “America First” policy toward trade deals with other countries, world leaders from 11 other countries have now banded together and found a path forward with a major trade deal that has left out the United States and Donald Trump. In the trade agreement known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or the TPP for short, countries from 11 major nations on the Pacific Rim have announced a deal early Saturday.
With this latest round of negotiations and structuring for the TPP deal , which was originally championed by Donald Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama, Donald Trump was not present and the United States had no voice in how it would play out, according to a report by the Associated Press . Originally, world leaders had tried to get the TPP deal rushed to the table before Trump took office, but most backed out of rushing it in fear that they would not get it right the first time.
In a statement released by the 11 member nations that have come to an agreement on the TPP deal, there is now a major deal in place where all 11 nations have agreed to the “core elements” of the TPP trade agreement. The TPP deal has also been characterized as “progressive” and “comprehensive” at its core. The wording of the statement seems to allude to the possibility that more negotiations between the 11 countries have to take place, but it appears as though the TPP deal is a go.
Japanese minister says all TPP countries now agree on trade pact https://t.co/QDsaoSqEGQ pic.twitter.com/Y04AIrgoj1
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) November 10, 2017
Excluding the United States and Donald Trump from the TPP deal was something that Trump himself had announced during his campaign and after he took office. Although the U.S. did not take part in the TPP trade agreement, the 11 member nations that did found a path forward. Those member nations include Canada, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Vietnam, and Singapore.
This is not the first time that Donald Trump has lambasted major trade agreements that either started or were conceived before his term in office. Trump has also spoken out against the North American Free Trade Agreement, which came to fruition during the Clinton administration. Trump has repeatedly raised the idea of renegotiating NAFTA in his “America First” policy campaigning.
The meeting for the new TPP trade agreement took place in Danang, Vietnam, whose own tourist industry is starting to see a robust upturn and their Pacific Coast is experiencing a boom of investment and development for the industry.
[Featured Image by Kevin Dietsch – Pool/Getty Images]