WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he would reconsider US participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal if it’s “substantially better.”
“I would do TPP if we were able to make a substantially better deal,” Trump told CNBC in an interview while attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.
“The deal was terrible, the way it was structured was terrible. If we did a substantially better deal, I would be open to TPP,” he said.
Last January, Trump announced to officially withdraw the US from the Pacific trade deal in a largely symbolic move, as the US Congress hadn’t approved the deal yet.
During his presidential campaign, Trump promised to never sign massive trade agreements like the TPP, which he said would “destroy” US manufacturing.
The TPP deal originally involved Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam.
Trump’s remarks to reopen the door to the TPP comes after the 11 remaining TPP members this week announced that they had finalized a revised deal and hoped to sign it in March.
Trump is expected to address the WEF on Friday to lay out his “America First” policy, which has led his country away from multiple multilateral pacts and infused anxiety into both allies and the broader world.
