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Trump floats possibility of TPP return
Story Date: 4/16/2018
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Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 4/13/18
President Donald Trump tried to allay the fears of some of his biggest trade critics on Thursday, discussing the possibility of re-engaging in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a Pacific Rim trade deal that he campaigned against, previously called "a rape of our country" and withdrew the U.S. from on his first full day in office.
After alarming free-trade Republicans by threatening to impose tariffs on up to $150 billion in Chinese imports, Trump found himself in a White House meeting Thursday with farm-state lawmakers and governors who fear what will happen to agriculture in the event of a full-blown trade war. So he moved to surprise them. He directed U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and economic adviser Larry Kudlow to examine whether re-entering the TPP makes sense.
Sound familiar? Trump said back in January that he'd reconsider TPP if it could be reworked to offer "substantially better" terms. Since then, the 11 remaining TPP nations signed a reworked pact last month, and each country is now working to get it enacted by their individual legislatures. But Trump's statement on Thursday sent a strong signal to farm state lawmakers and governors that he's heard their concerns about his trade crackdown on China, POLITICO's Burgess Everett and Pro Trade's Megan Cassella report.
"He got it really loudly and clearly today from a lot of us," Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said after the Thursday meeting. "If you want to send a message to China, the best way to do that is to start doing business with their competitors. So he was very open to it."
Don't get too excited: Trump has often mused in meetings about changing his position on high-profile issues, from immigration to gun control, only to do the opposite. And right after Thursday's meeting, the White House sought to keep expectations low. A senior administration official cautioned that "it's very early in the process" and that Trump was not committed to anything.
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