United States President-elect Donald Trump says he will withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on the first day of his presidency.
In a video posted to Twitter, Trump said on day one he would "issue a notification of intent to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a potential disaster for our country. Instead, we will negotiate fair bilateral trade deals that bring jobs and industry back onto American shores."
Twelve countries. including Canada, Mexico, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Peru and Chile signed the agreement, which would reduce tariffs to try to boost trade in the region. The deal requires the United States to sign in order to come into force. The TPP excludes China, and was widely seen as an attempt by the United States to secure its leading role in the Asia-Pacific against an emerging China.
The future of the TPP was the main topic at the APEC conference in Peru this weekend, with prime minister John Key saying as he left the summit that he was ""a little more confident that we can get President Trump to come back to the table and have a look at TPP" but New Zealand had a lot of other free-trade opportunities, including good progress on an FTA with Gulf states and the potential to sign one with the European Union next year.
New Zealand and China also agreed to negotiate an update to their existing Free Trade Agreement.
