One of the first jobs US President Donald Trump did yesterday (January 23) was to sign an executive order to withdraw America from Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations - which were championed under the Obama administration as a trade deal which would have broadened tariff-free arrangements with states includes in the 12-member discussions.

As part of his pre-election manifesto, Trump was very vocal about his disagreement of TPP and said he would pull out if elected. On the campaign trail he regularly described TPP as a “secretive” deal that was actually damaging to the US workforce and he claimed he would withdraw from negotiations on “day one” - and now he has. 

Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Vietnam, Brunei, Singapore and New Zealand are all involved with the TPP.

Some of these countries – including Australia, New Zealand and Japan are now looking into how best to salvage some kind of deal. Australia and New Zealand have reportedly said they want to press ahead with the trade deal despite the withdrawal from the US. 

Under Obama, TPP aimed at strengthening economic ties between member countries including Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Chile and Peru.
Meanwhile Trump is expected to sign another executive order this week to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a trilateral trade bloc in North America which includes Canada and Mexico.