New York, Nov 21 (EFE).- President-elect Donald Trump said Monday that he will withdraw the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, describing the accord as a “potential disaster for our country.”
The Republican, who denounced the TPP during the campaign, said that as president, he will focus on negotiating “fair bilateral trade deals.”
The TPP links the U.S. with a dozen other nations, including Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Chile and Peru.
Though the accord was signed in February after six years of negotiations, the U.S. Congress has yet to ratify the pact, which has spurred opposition from both Tea Party Republicans and progressive Democrats.
President Barack Obama has pushed hard for ratification of the TPP and was expected to try to get the deal through Congress during the lame-duck session if Hillary Clinton won the presidential contest.
The promise to scrap the TPP was part of a brief video Trump released Monday outlining executive actions he plans to implement once he takes office Jan. 20.
He framed his rejection of the “potential disaster” of the TPP in the context of reinvigorating the U.S. economy.
“Whether it’s producing steel, building cars, or curing disease, I want the next generation of production and innovation to happen right here, in our great homeland: America – creating wealth and jobs for American workers,” Trump said.
“As part of this plan, I’ve asked my transition team to develop a list of executive actions we can take on day one to restore our laws and bring back our jobs,” he said.
In that vein, Trump said he would “investigate all abuses of visa programs that undercut the American worker,” though he said nothing about his campaign promise to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.