Trump says will quit Pacific trade deal on day one of presidency

He has laid out a series of actions that he will undertake on his first day at the White House, and those include the withdrawal of the U.S. from Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

In the two and-a-half minute video, which was produced and posted online by Trump’s transition team, the commander in-chief in-waiting said he plans to withdraw from the controversial Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal, sack energy regulations put in place by President Barack Obama’s administration and strengthen USA cyber security.

The TPP links the US with a dozen other nations, including Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Chile and Peru.

Some leaders have suggested modifying the TPP deal to make it more appealing to the incoming president.

Delegates attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in Lima, Peru, have demanded free trade policies continue.

The TPP, a free trade pact between 12 Asia-Pacific countries, has been signed but not yet ratified by the USA lawmakers.

President-elect Donald Trump on Monday released a video statement on YouTube, outlining his vision for the first 100 days in office.

At the APEC summit in Peru this week, countries which have signed up to TPP, including New Zealand, expressed disappointment over Mr Trump’s intentions to pull the United States out.

Trump’s populist message resonated in many US industrial regions, who have seen huge manufacturing job losses blamed on another major trade deal, the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Trump offered few details of his plans, but said he would provide further updates “in the coming days” – most likely via Twitter. However, many voters believed that such worldwide trade deals are largely responsible for jobs in the U.S. being outsourced overseas. Trump had campaigned for the United States presidency on a pledge to pull out of the 12-nation trade deal, repeatedly referring to it as a job-killing “disaster”.

From “Australia’s point of view, getting access, greater access for Australian exports, whether it is goods or services to those big markets is manifestly in our interest”, Turnbull said.

US Trade Representative Michael Froman warned last week that scrapping the trans-Pacific trade deal would have “serious” strategic and economic costs.

“I hope that will appeal to the businessman as well as the politician in president-elect Trump”, he said.

ManufacturingNZ and ExportNZ executive director Catherine Beard said the best-case scenario for New Zealand exporters would be that Trump’s anti-trade views mellowed and the pro-trade factions of the Republican Party prevailed. Seeking to possibly fill the void in leadership on global trade, China said that more countries are now interested in RCEP than TPP.