Source: BBC

President-elect Donald Trump says the US will quit the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal on his first day in the White House.

He made the announcement in a video messageoutlining what he intends to do first when he takes office in January.

The TPP trade deal was signed by 12 countries which together cover 40% of the world’s economy.

Mr Trump also pledged to reduce “job-killing restrictions” on coal production and stop visa abuses.

But there was no mention of repealing Obamacare or building a wall on the southern border with Mexico, two actions he said during the campaign he would do as soon as he assumed power.

What is the TPP?

The massive trade deal was agreed in 2015 by nations including the US, Japan, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Mexico, but has not yet been ratified by the individual countries.

Its aim was to deepen economic ties and boost growth, including by reducing tariffs.

There were also measures to enforce labour and environmental standards, copyrights, patents and other legal protections.

But its opponents say it was negotiated in secret and it favoured big corporations.

Read more about the TPP and why it matters

How China gains from US leaving TPP

Asia’s winners and losers from Trump’s TPP dump

Why does Donald Trump dislike the TPP?

During the US presidential election campaign, Mr Trump gave broadbrush arguments against the pact, and used plenty of colourful language.

In June 2016 he described it as “another disaster done and pushed by special interests who want to rape our country, just a continuing rape of our country”. In another speech he referred to the TPP as “the greatest danger yet”.

But while there was plenty of talk about “taking back control” of the US economy, there were few specifics.

Announcing the plan to pull out of the TPP, he said that the US would “negotiate fair, bilateral trade deals that bring jobs and industry back onto American shores”.

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