Donald Trump withdraws US from TPP

President Donald Trump has fulfilled a campaign pledge by signing an executive order to withdraw the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Trump has signed an executive order to withdraw the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership

Trump, who succeeded Barack Obama as president of the United States earlier this month, vowed to sign a “note of intent” to exit the TPP on his first day in the White House.

Constituted by 12 different nations, including Canada, Mexico, Australia and Japan, the pact aims to strengthen economic ties and boost growth – including by reducing tariffs.

However during his presidential campaign, Trump labelled the TTP a “potential disaster for our country”, arguing it was harmful to American workers and manufacturing.

“Everyone knows what that means, right?” Trump said at the signing ceremony in the White House. “We’ve been talking about this for a long time. Great thing for the American worker, what we just did.”

The trade deal took the Obama administration seven years to negotiate as part of the former president’s “pivot to Asia” strategy, and was designed to potentially create a single market similar to the European Union.

It included measures to enforce labour and environmental standards, copyrights, patents and other legal protections

The move has increased speculation over the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) – a zero-tariff pact between the US, Canada and Mexico agreed in 1994. Changes to the agreement could have vast implications for Mexico’s national spirit, Tequila.

At the end of last year, The Spirits Business investigated what Donald Trump’s presidential victory spells for the future of the international spirits industry.