On January 23rd, President Trump signed an Executive Order withdrawing from the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP was comprised of the following 12 countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and of course, The Unites States.  

The agreement was finalized and signed last year and it was aimed to promote economic growth by reducing trade barriers such as tariffs, open new markets, protect the environment and protect American intellectual property from invention and innovation.

Supporters believe the TPP would have created incredible opportunities and create a huge boon for the countries involved.

So why did Trump keep his campaign promise and withdraw?

Three reasons:

A) It would continue to encourage exporting millions of jobs to low wage countries

B) It would continue to harm the manufacturing sector of our country; a sector that has been hemorrhaging and deteriorating for the past 30 years; and

C) It didn’t address the major issue of currency manipulation

After seeing what NAFTA (The North American Free Trade Act) did to the manufacturing sector and American worker, I do believe that withdrawing from the TPP was the right move. The last 30 plus years have provided us with bad trade policies that need to be reversed immediately.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am a staunch capitalist and very conservative in my views for lessoning taxes, regulations and anything that hinders the ability of businesses to promote growth. I also believe in free globalized trade, but it must be fair. There cannot be countries manipulating currencies to make it cheaper to buy their products and there should be some form of protection for the American worker.  

What we should now expect is the Trump administration to renegotiate one on one deals with each country containing accountability provisions to insure compliance. Will he be successful? To be continued……

Up next, NAFTA.

Wishing you much health, happiness and prosperity,

Mark