President Donald Trump late Thursday evening confused a lot of people when he said that it is possible for him to re-enter the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), adding that the only way he would rejoin the trade pact is if the deal were “substantially better.”
“Would only join TPP if the deal were substantially better than the deal offered to Pres. Obama,” Trump tweeted. “We already have BILATERAL deals with six of the eleven nations in TPP, and are working to make a deal with the biggest of those nations, Japan, who has hit us hard on trade for years!” Trump added.
Several Republican senators stated Thursday morning that the President ordered his top economic officials to look for a way into joining the TPP, which 11 other Pacific Rim nations signed in March.
The U.S. first entered the trade pact while under the Obama administration, but President Trump withdrew from it last year, calling it a “disaster.”
However, in his Thursday night tweet Trump only repeated a White House statement from earlier in the day, which said Trump would only re-enter TPP if the deal was made “substantially” better.
“He has asked Amb. Lighthizer and Director Kudlow to take another look at whether or not a better deal could be negotiated,” White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said in a statement.
Canada, Mexico, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam are the other members of the trade pact.
According to Reuters, Trump’s reconsideration of the TPP comes as his administration attempts to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and exchanges tariff threats with China.
Meanwhile, several policymakers in the Asia-Pacific region on Friday responded to Trump’s remarks of the U.S. rejoining the trade deal with skepticism.
“If it’s true, I would welcome it,” Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso told reporters after a cabinet meeting on Friday and before Trump’s tweet. Aso added that the facts needed to be verified.
“Trump is a person who could change temperamentally, so he may say something different the next day,” Aso said.
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