Trump wants a deal he can’t refuse to rejoin TPP
President Donald Trump said Wednesday he would only consider rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) if the United States was offered a deal he can’t refuse.
“Unless they offer us a deal that we cannot refuse, I would not go back into TPP,” Trump said at a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Wednesday at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort. “We’ll see what happens.”
Trump slammed the 11-nation agreement, saying the deal was not in the best interest of the U.S. economy and its workers.
"While Japan and South Korea would like us to go back into TPP, I don't like the deal for the United States," he tweeted on Tuesday. “Too many contingencies and no way to get out if it doesn't work.”
The president said he prefers a bilateral deal and working directly with Japan, which he says is far more efficient.
“We’re negotiating in what I really prefer is negotiating a one-on-one deal with Japan and that’s where we are right now,” he said.
According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, U.S. goods and services trade with Japan totaled an estimated $270.7 billion in 2016. Exports were $107.9 billion; imports were $162.8 billion. The U.S. goods and services trade deficit with Japan was $54.9 billion in 2016.
Trump is hopeful he can trim the “massive trade deficit” with Japan.
“That’s massive by any standpoint,” he said. “We are doing [Section] 232 [of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962] on steel and aluminum and if we can come to an arrangement on a new deal between the United States and Japan, that would be certainly something we would discuss.”