United States President Donald Trump reinforced his plan to scrap the Trans-Pacific Pact (TPP) in a video message today (Nov 22). According to President Trump, US will quit the TPP the first day in office next year January.
The TPP is a secret trade deal between 12 US-allied countries with undisclosed details to the public. The secret trade pact will empower large corporations to pay lesser taxes and over-ride domestic judiciary rulings – literally giving corporations a higher being status.
Despite having its negotiation going into its 6th year, important players like Japan, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Mexico have no ratified the agreement due to lack of domestic political support. Singapore is the only country who has approved to proceed with TPP because of the single ruling party dictatorship under Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
In his video message outlining his to-do list in January, US President Donald Trump said that he will remove “job-killing restrictions” and stop immigration abuses by clamping down on illegal immigrants. The illegal immigration stance, specifically aimed at those who have committed a crime, was a key winning election point for Donald Trump and it will be his first priority when he takes office.
With Donald Trump confirming that the US will not proceed with the TPP, Japan will likely also give up as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stated that there is no point continuing the TPP without US on Monday (Nov 21).