Donald Trump weighs up possibility of United States rejoining Trans-Pacific trade deal

Trump has also been opposed to a multi-lateral approach to trade deals, saying he prefers bi-lateral deals in which the US seemingly has more leverage.

US President Donald Trump says the US will only join the Trans Pacific Partnership, a multinational trade deal his administration walked away from a year ago, if it offers “substantially better” terms than under previous negotiations.

In a surprise step, Trump asked his top trade advisers Thursday to take another look at TPP and whether a better deal could be negotiated. Aso added that the facts needed to be verified.

KING: So why do you think President Trump is taking another look at the TPP?

The problem, as CNN Money wrote this week, is that the rest of those nations didn’t just decide to slink home without a trade deal after the USA pulled out. It is estimated that increased market prospects for USA farmers and ranchers would have added more than 40,100 jobs to the US economy. China is waging full-scale war against key USA industries.

“If these comments mean that President Trump is correctly evaluating the significance and effects of the TPP, then we welcome them”, Toshimitsu Motegi, Japan’s minister for the TPP, said.

Withdrawing from the deal was one of Mr Trump’s first acts as president, delivering one of his core campaign promises. While the White House has attempted to play down talk of a trade war, the tit-for-tat tariff escalation between the USA and China has left America’s business leaders concerned that they could suffer material harm from the loss of an important trading partner.

“Putting it simply, joining T.P.P.is the best way to avoid a potentially devastating loss of wheat sales to Japan”, said Michael Miller, chairman of U.S. Wheat Associates and a wheat farmer from Ritzville, Wash. And I think the president realizes, as President Obama did, that having closer links economically with those countries increases our defense capabilities and readiness. “The facts and the responsibility of the Syrian regime are beyond doubt“, he said in a statement issued by his office, accusing Damascus of crossing “a red line” set by France in May of previous year.

Trump might also have to pay a political price with the constituencies he riled up with his anti-TPP rhetoric, especially with those constituencies that would lose under the TPP.

And then there’s the other trillion-dollar question: “How receptive will the other 11 nations be to welcoming the USA back?”

The New York Times reported on Thursday that the President told farm-state lawmakers and governors that his administration was looking into rejoining the trade agreement known as the TPP.

“Now don’t get me wrong, that’s not saying we don’t want the Americans back in, we do”, Mr Ciobo told Sky News Australia. That could pose a challenge to the White House because these members may resist any US -endorsed changes at this stage of the process.

Trump’s reconsideration of the TPP comes as his administration attempts to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and exchanges tariff threats with China.

An early test of the potential for the United States to rejoin could come as soon as next week, when Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister and an ardent champion of the pact, is to meet with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.