President Donald Trump has fulfilled
a campaign pledge by signing an executive order to withdraw from the
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
"Great thing for the American worker what we just did," said Mr 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.
Mr Trump's executive order on TPP was largely symbolic since the deal has not been ratified by a divided US Congress.
During his presidential campaign, he criticised 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 labour 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
TPP in a nutshell
Twelve countries that border the Pacific Ocean signed up to the TPP in February 2016, representing roughly 40% of the world's economic output.The pact aimed to deepen economic ties between these nations, slashing tariffs and fostering trade to boost growth. Members had also hoped to foster a closer relationship on economic policies and regulation.
The agreement was designed so that it could eventually create a new single market, something like that of the EU.
But all 12 nations needed to ratify it, before it could come into effect.
Once Donald Trump won last year's election, the writing was on the wall for the TPP.
US participation was the major linchpin for the deal. It may be possible for the other countries to forge a smaller scale pact in it's place, but it can't go ahead in its current form.
Those other member states are: Japan - the only country to have already ratified the pact - Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Chile and Peru.
For and against
Former President Barack Obama treated trade deals as a priority during his tenure, and this particular deal would have bolstered America's position in the Asia-Pacific region, where China is growing in influence.But US opponents have characterised the TPP as a secretive deal that favoured big business and other countries at the expense of American jobs and national sovereignty.
On the campaign trail Donald Trump called it a "horrible deal".
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The Chinese government will rejoice
to hear Donald Trump promise that the US will quit the Trans-Pacific
Partnership (TPP) on his first day in the White House.
For years,
Beijing has listened to the Obama administration say the 12-nation
regional trade deal was a way of bolstering American leadership in Asia. China was not included in the deal, and President Barack Obama went out of his way to remind the region that this was no accident. TPP allows America - and not countries like China - to write the rules of the road in the 21st Century, which is especially important in a region as dynamic as the Asia-Pacific.
Nor was this ever just about the rules on trade. TPP was a core part of the Obama administration's strategic "pivot to Asia". US Defence Secretary Ash Carter said that alongside boosting US exports, it would strengthen Washington's key relationships in the Asia-Pacific, signal US commitment to the region and promote American values.
"Passing TPP is as important to me as another aircraft carrier," he insisted.
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