Useful in to deal with China and trade, may cause problems with his base in the midwest.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/busi...ba0ed2371cc_story.html?utm_term=.37c337f10eb6
President Trump ordered top administration officials Thursday to look at rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a major shift on the sprawling multination trade pact he rejected just days after taking office.
Rejoining the pact would come as Trump escalates a trade conflict with China. The Pacific Rim trade deal was intended to counter China’s influence, but Trump criticized the pact as a candidate and pulled the United States out of it in one of his earliest moves as president.
Trump gave the new orders to U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer and National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow during a White House meeting with lawmakers and governors, according to several GOP senators in attendance.
Trump has repeatedly floated major policy proposals in meetings and then quickly abandoned them. It remains to be seen if his comments Thursday represent plans to seriously explore rejoining TPP, and some free trade supporters approached his remarks with skepticism.
“If it holds until this afternoon, that’s a good move,” remarked Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), a free trade advocate and frequent Trump critic who was not at the White House meeting.
A senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe the White House’s internal approach, said Trump has not set any goals or deadlines for Kudlow and Lighthizer for when a new agreement should be reached.
Instead, the White House is approaching potential new talks as a way to make signal that Trump is receptive to free market proposals if he feels they can be reached in a way that advances U.S. interests, the official said.
Rejoining TPP would mark a reversal on one of the core commitments of Trump’s surprise presidential run. Trump’s opposition to multination trade pacts like TPP and the North American Free Trade Agreement was a central part of his 2016 campaign and accounted for some of his appeal to working-class voters. He argued the deals were terribly negotiated, ripping off the U.S. and hurt American workers and manufacturing.
“The Trans-Pacific Partnership is another disaster done and pushed by special interests who want to rape our country,” Trump said in June of 2016. “Just a continuing rape of our country. That’s what it is, too. It’s a harsh word — it’s a rape of our country. This is done by wealthy people that want to take advantage of us and that want to sign another partnership.”
The president’s protectionist impulses on trade since taking office have caused intense heartburn for many GOP lawmakers who continue to embrace the Republican Party’s traditional support for free trade. If the president does move forward with rejoining TPP, business groups and many Republican lawmakers would be sure to applaud the move, even as it would stand as the latest example of Trump going back on a campaign trail promise.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/busi...ba0ed2371cc_story.html?utm_term=.37c337f10eb6
President Trump ordered top administration officials Thursday to look at rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a major shift on the sprawling multination trade pact he rejected just days after taking office.
Rejoining the pact would come as Trump escalates a trade conflict with China. The Pacific Rim trade deal was intended to counter China’s influence, but Trump criticized the pact as a candidate and pulled the United States out of it in one of his earliest moves as president.
Trump gave the new orders to U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer and National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow during a White House meeting with lawmakers and governors, according to several GOP senators in attendance.
Trump has repeatedly floated major policy proposals in meetings and then quickly abandoned them. It remains to be seen if his comments Thursday represent plans to seriously explore rejoining TPP, and some free trade supporters approached his remarks with skepticism.
“If it holds until this afternoon, that’s a good move,” remarked Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), a free trade advocate and frequent Trump critic who was not at the White House meeting.
A senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe the White House’s internal approach, said Trump has not set any goals or deadlines for Kudlow and Lighthizer for when a new agreement should be reached.
Instead, the White House is approaching potential new talks as a way to make signal that Trump is receptive to free market proposals if he feels they can be reached in a way that advances U.S. interests, the official said.
Rejoining TPP would mark a reversal on one of the core commitments of Trump’s surprise presidential run. Trump’s opposition to multination trade pacts like TPP and the North American Free Trade Agreement was a central part of his 2016 campaign and accounted for some of his appeal to working-class voters. He argued the deals were terribly negotiated, ripping off the U.S. and hurt American workers and manufacturing.
“The Trans-Pacific Partnership is another disaster done and pushed by special interests who want to rape our country,” Trump said in June of 2016. “Just a continuing rape of our country. That’s what it is, too. It’s a harsh word — it’s a rape of our country. This is done by wealthy people that want to take advantage of us and that want to sign another partnership.”
The president’s protectionist impulses on trade since taking office have caused intense heartburn for many GOP lawmakers who continue to embrace the Republican Party’s traditional support for free trade. If the president does move forward with rejoining TPP, business groups and many Republican lawmakers would be sure to applaud the move, even as it would stand as the latest example of Trump going back on a campaign trail promise.
