President Trump on Thursday instructed top administration officials to explore re-entering the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — a trade pact he pulled the U.S. out of last year while calling it a “disaster.”
Speaking after a trade meeting with Trump, Republican senators said the president told White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to look into joining the deal, which 11 other Pacific Rim nations signed in March.
“The president multiple times reaffirmed in general to all of us and looked right at Larry Kudlow and said, ‘Larry, go get it done,'” Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), a vocal proponent of free trade, told reporters at the White House.
Sasse cautioned that Trump “is a guy who likes to blue-sky a lot and entertain a lot of different ideas,” suggesting the president could eventually change his mind.
If the U.S. were to reenter the TPP, it would be a remarkable about-face for Trump, who repeatedly blasted the trade pact during his 2016 presidential campaign.
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Trump orders officials to look into re-entering Pacific trade deal he pulled out of https://t.co/q4yCSHLb0h pic.twitter.com/njdGV4zi9b
— The Hill (@thehill) April 12, 2018
Of course, none of this fazes Trump supporters. TPP was and still is a bad idea for America. If I thought the great negotiator, art-of-the-deal guy could negotiate terms favorable to the US, I would be all for it. But the art-of-the-deal guy is just one more element of the phony reality tv presidency. The great negotiator doesn’t exist.
It is good news that today the President directed Larry Kudlow and Ambassador Lighthizer to negotiate U.S. entry into TPP: https://t.co/sfzI3eyDOM pic.twitter.com/B75Bsdsm3x
— Senator Ben Sasse (@SenSasse) April 12, 2018
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