Trump executive order pulls out of TPP trade deal

The trade deal, a linchpin of ex-President Barack Obama’s Asia policy, was signed by 12 nations, the BBC reports.

“Great thing for the American worker what we just did,” said Trump as he dumped the pact with a stroke of a pen.

He also cut funding for international groups that provide abortions, and froze hiring of some federal workers.

Trump’s executive order on TPP is seen as mainly symbolic since the deal was never ratified by a divided US Congress.

During his presidential campaign, he criticized the accord as a “potential disaster for our country”, arguing it harmed US manufacturing.

What is the TPP?

• The trade deal, which covered 40% of the world’s economy, was negotiated in 2015 by nations including the US, Japan, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Mexico
• TPP’s stated aim was to strengthen economic ties and boost growth, including by reducing tariffs
• It included measures to enforce labor and environmental standards, copyrights, patents and other legal protections
• The agreement, backed heavily by US business, was designed to potentially create a new single market likened to the EU
• Critics argued it was a not-so-secret gambit to box in China, which is not part of the agreement