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发帖数: 12393 | 1 (CNN)President Donald Trump on Monday will start to unravel the behemoth
trade deal he inherited from his predecessor, as he signed an executive
action to withdraw from the negotiating process of the Trans-Pacific
Partnership.
That executive action sends signals to Democrats and leaders in foreign
capitals around the world that Trump's rhetoric on trade during the campaign
is turning into action. Trump vowed during the campaign to withdraw the US
from the Pacific trade deal, commonly known as TPP, which he argued was
harmful to American workers and manufacturing.
The TPP was negotiated under former President Barack Obama, but never
ratified by Congress, so withdrawing from it will not have an immediate,
real effect on US economic policies, although it does signal a new and very
different US outlook on trade under Trump.
The other executive actions signed Monday included reinstating the Mexico
City abortion rules and instituting a five-year lobbying ban for anyone who
works in administration.
RELATED: Obama pushes trade in Asia, but has 2016 killed the TPP?
Trump's action comes as the President is looking to change the conversation
after a rocky first weekend at the White House, during which, he and his
officials feuded with the press and his presidency was greeted with massive
protests in the nation's capital and in large cities across the US.
The executive action will be just one part of the Trump administration's
efforts to focus attention on its plans to radically reshape US trade
policies, making good on a central premise of Trump's campaign and its
economic nationalist underbelly.
Trump on Monday will also meet with union leaders and blue-collar workers
several hours after signing the executive action, as well as separate
meetings with business leaders.
As the Republican nominee, Trump railed against free trade agreements he
argued were lopsided against the US and vowed to implement more
protectionist trade policies as president, rallying voters to the polls with
his "America First" slogan.
Trump has also threatened to impose trade tariffs as a way to revive
American manufacturing and compel US companies not to take their
manufacturing operations abroad.
Obama's administration worked with the 11 countries that became signatories
for more than two years to formulate the massive free trade deal that was
set to reshape commerce throughout the Pacific Rim, triggering movement
among multinational companies in the region at the same time. Trump's
election swiftly dealt a death knell -- one formalized on Monday -- to the
deal, sending shockwaves in Asian capitals that had pinned their economic
hopes on the deal.
Trump's decision to withdraw the US from TPP is also a first step in the
administration's efforts to amass a governing coalition to push the new
President's agenda, one that includes the blue-collar workers who defected
from Democrats and flocked to Trump's candidacy in November.
The move could also put many Democrats -- particularly those who opposed the
trade deal -- in a tricky position as they look to hold on to union support
, a key constituency in their political coalition.
Obama struggled to sell many Democrats on the trade deal, in particular
because of concerns about how the trade deal would impact American
manufacturers and the US workers in that industry.
Even Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee who pushed the TPP
deal as secretary of state, backed off her support for the deal during the
campaign amid pressure from the left.
Democrats with heavy union worker constituencies will either need to get on
board with Trump's protectionist trade policies or risk losing reelection.
Republican leaders, many of whom supported the TPP trade deal and free trade
more broadly, will also be pressed to react Monday -- reactions that could
show daylight between top Republicans on Capitol Hill and the White House on
a top policy issue.
Trump has said that he also plans to renegotiate the North American Free
Trade Agreement, a free trade deal joining the US, Mexico and Canada.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny contributed to this report. |
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