Trump takes aim at trade
Withdraws from TPP pact in busy day of executive action
WASHINGTON — Charting a new American course abroad, President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the sweeping Trans-Pacific Partnership on Monday, using one of his first actions in office to reject a centerpiece of Barack Obama’s attempts to counter China and deepen U.S. ties in Asia.
“Great thing for the American worker that we just did,” Mr. Trump said in brief remarks as he signed a notice in the Oval Office.
Monday was a busy day for the new president. In addition to his executive action on TPP, Mr. Trump signed memorandums freezing most federal government hiring — though he noted an exception for the military — and reinstating a ban on providing federal money to international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the option.
Mr. Trump’s move on trade aimed to fulfill a central campaign promise even as he
‘Great thing for the American worker that we just did.’
appeared to be fixated on re-litigating the 2016 election.
In a meeting with congressional leaders on Monday night, Mr. Trump claimed that 3 to 5 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally voted in the election, costing him the popular vote, according to a Democratic aide who spoke on condition of anonymity. There has been no evidence to back up that claim.
Mr. Trump aimed to make jobs and the economy the focal point of his first few days in office. He has repeatedly cast the 12nation trade pact — which was eagerly sought by U.S. allies in Asia — as detrimental to American businesses.
The Obama administration spent years negotiating the Pacific Rim pact, However, Mr. Obama never sent the accord to Congress for ratification, making Mr. Trump’s actions Monday largely symbolic.
With the stroke of a pen, Mr. Trump signaled that he plans to follow through on promises to take a more aggressive stance against foreign competitors as part of his “America First” approach. In doing so, he demonstrated that he would not follow old rules, effectively discarding longstanding Republican orthodoxy that expanding global trade was good for the world and America — and that the U.S. should help write the rules of international commerce.
Mr. Trump said he was protecting jobs as he officially pulled out from the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal on Monday.
Most analysts say the 12nation agreement would have reduced prices and boosted sales abroad for automakers, farmers and tech companies.
But Mr. Trump vowed he could do better.
Some in both parties and also analysts worry that China and Russia will move to fill the economic vacuum as America looks inward, while others expect an ambivalent Germany to emerge as the West’s moral compass.
On hiring, Mr. Trump instituted a governmentwide freeze, representing the opening salvo in what may be the most concerted effort to overhaul the federal workforce in 35 years.
Critiquing the establishment was central to Mr. Trump’s campaign, and he placed federal employees at the center of his effort to “clean up corruption and special interest in Washington.”
When Mr. Trump signed an order resurrecting an abortion-related rule known as the Mexico City policy, it was seen as more like a party tradition than a new push by Mr. Trump. The abortion rule has been in place under Republican presidents while being repealed by Democratic residents of the Oval Office.
Also, Mr. Trump picked Ajit Pai, a fierce critic of the Obama-era “net neutrality” rules, to be chief regulator of the nation’s airwaves and internet connections.
Additionally, the White House said that Mr. Trump will nominate former Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., a veteran who served on the National Security Council during President George H.W. Bush’s administration, to be his Air Force secretary.
Meanwhile, spokesman Sean Spicer appeared to suggest that Mr. Trump would not move quickly to reinstate deportations for young immigrants protected from deportation under the Obama administration.
Mr. Spicer said Mr. Trump’s focus would be on people in the U.S. illegally who have criminal records or who pose a threat.
Mr. Spicer — making his first appearance at the briefing room podium since his angry tirade against the press Saturday — also told reporters that “our intention is never to lie to you,” although sometimes the Trump administration may “disagree with the facts.”
He conceded that he was relying on incomplete information when he boasted about the crowd size at Mr. Trump’s inauguration.
Earlier, the president in discussions with executives warned that he would impose a “substantial border tax” on companies that move their manufacturing out of the United States, while he also promised to cut up to 75 percent of federal regulations and fasttrack the corporate leaders’ plans to open factories.
Elsewhere, the legal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics filed a lawsuit alleging he is violating the so-called emoluments clause in the Constitution by allowing his business to accept payments from foreign governments.
Later Monday, spokesman Mr. Spicer said Mr. Trump has left his businesses as promised, handing over control to his two adult sons.
Also, Kellyanne Conway, a senior Trump adviser, posted on Twitter regarding the president’s tax returns that Mr. Trump is “under audit and will not release until that is completed.”