USA TODAY International Edition
Trump targets trade deal, abortion
Among executive actions: Withdrawing the U. S. from Trans- Pacific Partnership
President Trump WASHINGTON signed three presidential directives Monday, withdrawing U. S. support for a Pacific trade deal, imposing a hiring freeze in civilian agencies, and restoring the socalled Mexico City policy that prohibits U. S. aid from supporting international groups that promote abortion.
Along with an executive order signed Friday on Obamacare, Trump’s first- week executive actions signal a U- turn from Obama administration policies.
“Everybody knows what I’m about to do,” Trump said before withdrawing from the Trans- Pacific Partnership, a 12- nation trade deal signed by the Obama administration but not ratified by the Senate. “We’ve been talking about this for a long time. A great thing for the American worker, what we just did.”
When Chief of Staff Reince Priebus handed him a memorandum directing a hiring freeze, Trump emphasized, “except for the military.” The hiring freeze is in line with similar actions taken by Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush in their first days in office. Obama did not order a
“We’ve been talking about this for a long time. A great thing for the American worker, what we just did.” President Trump
hiring freeze, but only a pay freeze for senior members of the White House staff.
The White House did not immediately release the text of the directives, but Trump held up the trade order for a photo opportunity.
“It is the policy of my administration to represent the American people and their financial well- being in all negotiations, particularly the American worker,” the memorandum said, according to an Agence France- Presse/ Getty Images photo.
None of the directives were executive orders, but rather presidential memoranda. Known as “executive orders by another name,” presidential memoranda became President Obama’s executive power tool of choice, signing more of them than any president in history.
Trump ordered that all future trade deals be negotiated individually, country- to- country, and not part of regional trade pacts. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said it “ushers in a new era of trade policy,” and represents “a strong signal that the Trump administration wants free and fair trade around the world.”
The Mexico City policy, referred to as the “global gag rule” by abortion rights groups, was first adopted by President Ronald Reagan in 1984 and has been subject to presidential ping- pong ever since.
Democratic presidents repeal it as one of their first acts in office; Republicans reinstate it.
The text of President Trump’s Mexico City policy was not immediately available, but Bush’s version ordered that “taxpayer funds appropriated pursuant to the Foreign Assistance Act should not be given to foreign nongovernmental organizations that perform abortions or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations.”
Spicer said the policy was intended to prevent “coercive abortion and forced sterilization practices.”
“The president has made it no secret that he’s a pro- life president,” he said. He cast the decision as both a question of protecting life and taxpayer money.
Trump already signed his first executive order on Friday, directing agencies to allow more flexibility to states, companies and consumers in carrying out the Affordable Care Act while the Republican- controlled Congress works to repeal it.