Trump to explore entering Pacific trade pact he once called 'a disaster'
President Trump on Thursday instructed top administration officials to explore re-entering the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — a trade pact he pulled the U.S. out of last year while calling it a “disaster.”
Speaking after a trade meeting with Trump, Republican senators said the president told White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to look into joining the deal, which 11 other Pacific Rim nations signed in March.
“The president multiple times reaffirmed in general to all of us and looked right at Larry Kudlow and said, ‘Larry, go get it done,'" Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), a vocal proponent of free trade, told reporters at the White House.
Sasse cautioned that Trump “is a guy who likes to blue-sky a lot and entertain a lot of different ideas,” suggesting the president could eventually change his mind.
If the U.S. were to reenter the TPP, it would be a remarkable about-face for Trump, who repeatedly blasted the trade pact during his 2016 presidential campaign.
During the 2016 campaign, Trump called TPP a “disaster” that is backed by “special interests who want to rape our country.”
His decision to pull out of the agreement, one of his first moves as president, was blasted by Republicans who said it put the U.S. at a disadvantage to China on the global stage.
In late February, 25 Senate Republicans wrote a letter to Trump calling on him to rejoin the agreement, arguing it would broadly boost the U.S. economy.
Trump told lawmakers he now believes the TPP “might be easier for us to join now” because the 11 other nations are close to finalizing a deal without the United States, according to the Nebraska senator.
In early March, the 11 other nations signed the renamed Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership in Chile after spending the better part of the last year reworking the deal.
http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...cials-to-look-into-re-entering-tpp-trade-pact
