Donald Trump vows to pull US out of TPP

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to pull the US out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free-trade agreement, signed by 12 nations earlier this year.

Speaking in a YouTube video (below), Trump, who was elected to succeed Barack Obama as president of the United States earlier this month, said he would sign a “note of intent” to exit the TPP on his first day in the White House.

The TPP, agreed in 2015 and signed in February this year, is constituted by 12 different nations, including Mexico and Canada.

The trade deal, the most significant one the US has entered in to since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, took the Obama administration seven years to negotiate. It was part of the president’s “pivot to Asia” strategy.

It ensures free-trade between signatories alongside governing common labour and environmental standards, including a pledge to tackle unfair currency practices.

However, Trump said he believes the TPP thwarts job prospects of US citizens.

“Instead we will negotiate fair bilateral trade deals that bring jobs and industry back on to American shores,” Trump said.

A number of international spirits producers, including French drinks group Pernod Ricard, have pledged to continue investing in the US following Trump’s election, despite ensuing economic turmoil such as the devaluation of the Mexican peso.