The TPP Lives On – Without Trump's United States

Investing.com - Ten months after President Donald Trump withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, the remaining countries in the TPP bloc are considering signing a trade pact on their own. Trump feared the TPP trade deal would take jobs away from the US, and wanted to focus on America First policies. But on Saturday the other TPP nations said they had agreed on core elements of a revised version of the TPP – without the United States of America. The TPP currently includes Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia and seven other countries whose trade totaled around $350 billion last year. Researchers from the Peterson Institute for International Economics said the pact could produce income of $157 billion annually for its members.The final TPP agreement is still in the works. There are still several sticking points, and the deal could be expanded to include additional countries. But according to the New York Times, a new deal could be announced as early next year.Ironically, the new deal was announced while many of the would-be TPP signatories were meeting with Trump in Asia, where Trump said that while “large agreements that tie our hands” were off the table, he was open to bilateral trade agreements with any Indo-Pacific nation that would abide by the principles of fair and reciprocal trade.