Whilst much of the attention of President Trumps first week in office has been focused upon the Mexican wall and the blocking of migration from certain countries. Other less newsworthy actions have also been taken which are due to effect the . One of these is the withdrawal of support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership that was brokered and negotiated by the Obama administration. President Trump has stated that the withdraw from the TPP will save American jobs by preventing them from being outsourced overseas. “We’re going to stop the ridiculous trade deals that have taken everybody out of our country and taken companies out of our country, and it’s going to be reversed,”
The withdrawal has left many entrepreneurs scratching their heads and wondering what happens next as two years of careful planning with other Pacific nations comes crashing to the ground. Leaders in International patenting and intellectual property Morningside IP have stated that the withdrawal has the potential to affect international property rights as the new bilateral trade agreements are torn to tatters.
The agreement was never quite finalised but was expected to be completed within the first few months providing Hillary Clinton won the presidency. Donald Trump had made his disdain for the agreement clear early on in his campaign. It was therefore no surprise that within the first weeks of his administration the plug has was pulled on the TTP.
The TTP was essentially a huge free trade agreement between many countries on the Pacific Rim including Japan, Australia, Canada, U.S.A and Mexico to name a few of the 12 countries set to benefit. The agreement would have worked similarly to the EU’s single market agreement which Trump argued would of undercut American companies and threatened jobs due to the influx of cheap labour.
Although the United States have pulled out from the deal, many other nations are hoping that a new deal can be completed with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull suggesting that China could be brought to the table as a replacement for the U.S. Although there are fears amongst the other nations that without the U.S the deal is hardly worth completed due to the enormity of the U.S’s influence on global markets.
Donald Trump has also promised to take a look at the free trade agreement currently in place with the U.S, Canada and Mexico that was passed through by George H W Bush and passed through congress by Bill Clinton. The idea of an insular United States is not a new concept. During the interwar period the United States distanced itself from the involvement of international issues across the world as they began to look inwards. This echoed a sentiment among American citizens that can be still seen today. Americans are unhappy with the countries meddling overseas and want to see improvements at home. With Trump’s ascendancy to the White House through this populist ticket I would expect a return of the insular United States of the 1930’s.