Scaled Down Trans-Pacific Partnership Goes Forward Without United States

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Canada, Japan, Australia and eight other countries on March 8 signed a trade agreement that is basically the Trans-Pacific Partnership minus the United States.

In an executive order issued three days after he took office last year, President Donald Trump directed that the United States withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which had the potential to become the world’s largest free trade pact, affecting as much as 40 percent of global trade. Trump, who campaigned on a protectionist, America First platform, said at the time that, “We’re going to stop the ridiculous trade deals that have taken everybody out of our country and taken companies out of our country, and it’s going to be reversed.”

The new deal, known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, will ease trade restrictions between countries representing a combined 13 percent of the global economy.

 “The signing is a significant moment for open markets, free trade and the rules-based international system,” Australian Trade Minister Steven Ciobo said. “It sends an important message to the world that prosperity is achieved through breaking down trade barriers, not building them.”

Courtesy: AIIS