Washington, Jan 30 (EFE).- The US government on Monday officially announced its withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership to its treaty partners, a move ordered last week by President Donald Trump.
The Office of the US Trade Representative on Monday morning sent letters “officially” notifying the TPP signatory nations that Washington has “withdrawn” from the pact, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said at his daily press briefing.
The next step will be to fulfill Trump’s “campaign promise” to take the US out of unacceptable trade pacts that do not put US interests first, Spicer emphasized.
Trump will continue to negotiate new and “better” trade accords that will bring back jobs, increase Americans’ salaries and reduce the country’s trade deficit, he added.
Exactly a week ago, on his first full workday in the White House, Trump signed an executive order to withdraw from the treaty.
Shortly after winning the Nov. 8 election, Trump said that one of his first actions after being inaugurated on Jan. 20 would be to issue notification of his intention to withdraw from the TPP, an agreement that he lambasted during the election campaign, calling it a “potential disaster” for the US.
The TPP was negotiated by the Obama administration, which made it one of its priorities in trade policy and within its strategy to deepen ties with the Asia-Pacific region.
During the election campaign, both Trump and his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, had rejected the TPP, which had not yet been ratified by Congress because of the opposition by many lawmakers, mainly progressives.
Negotiation of the TPP took more than six years before it was signed in early 2016 by Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, the United States, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. The other partners are in the process of having their parliaments ratify the pact so that it may enter into force.