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Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
President Donald Trump gestures during a roundtable on tax cuts for Florida small businesses in Hialeah, Florida, April 16, 2018.
After recently indicating he could consider rejoining the massive Pacific trade pact, President Donald Trump said he now doesn’t think the Trans-Pacific Partnership is good for the world’s largest economy.
Following Tuesday’sbilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the Trump-owned Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, the U.S. leader took to Twitter to criticize the current TPP agreement, saying it had “too many contingencies and no way to get out.” He also expressed a preference for bilateral trade deals, calling them more “profitable.”
Trump tweet: While Japan and South Korea would like us to go back into TPP, I don’t like the deal for the United States. Too many contingencies and no way to get out if it doesn’t work. Bilateral deals are far more efficient, profitable and better for OUR workers. Look how bad WTO is to U.S.
Of note, some experts expressed confusion at Trump’s inclusion of South Korea in the Twitter post since that country isn’t a member of the trade pact.
Ian Bremmer tweet: S Korea isn’t in TPP. Just FYI.
However, there have been some reports in Korean media that Seoul may now be considering joining up to the TPP, and could even have considered doing so along with the U.S.
The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
The post comes a few days after Trump asked advisors to consider the possibility of re-entering the TPP. The president has previously said that Washington would only join if the landmark pact was “substantially better” than the version offered to former President Barack Obama.
Officially known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the landmark agreement was signed last month and will cut tariffs between 11 member countries, which include Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia and Mexico. It is currently awaiting ratification from six of the nations.
