Trump could flip on trade deal

WASHINGTON — In what would be another dramatic reversal, President Donald Trump told farm-state lawmakers Thursday he might sign the United States up for the Trans-Pacific Partnership after all.

Just by floating the idea, the GOP president drew the ire of conservatives on social media as he opened the door to joining a trade pact with 11 other Asian countries that he once dubbed “a continuing rape of our country.” It showed again how willing he is to change his mind, even when doing so would betray his core beliefs and political base.

That comment came in 2016 when Trump was still a candidate for president. After he took office, Trump wasted little time going after the Obama-era trade deal, saying during his third day in office as he signed an order withdrawing the country from the deal: “Great thing for the American worker, what we just did.”

Fifteen months later, he has further stirred the trade hornets’ nest. His administration slapped steel and aluminum tariffs on all other countries — with a handful of exceptions — and is on the brink of an all-out trade war with China. Now, suddenly, the president that has railed against trade pacts featuring the U.S. and more than one other partner is considering joining TPP.

Trump told farm-state lawmakers who were at the White House to voice their concerns over his trade tiff with Beijing he has instructed chief economic adviser Lawrence Kudlow and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to take another look at reviving the Asian trade pact, according to Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Chairman Pat Roberts of Kansas.

The president told the group of lawmakers he has concluded it might be easier for the United States to join TPP after its other 11 members have finished their negotiations, with the U.S. then joining as the 12th member.

He and fellow-GOP Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, who has been a sometimes-Trump critic, applauded the president’s willingness to reconsider his order to remove America from the trade alliance.

“That is certainly good news,” Roberts told reporters outside the West Wing.

Sasse was also upbeat but counseled that Trump often “likes to blue-sky a lot” in such meetings. He said the president looked at Kudlow and said, “Go get it done.”

“Lots of good things from this meeting,” Sasse said. “The president heard unified voices that we need more trade, not less.”