US President Donald Trump on January 23 signed an executive order to withdraw the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP).

“A great thing for the American worker, what we just did,” he said in front of the media right after signing the order.

The order to withdraw is among the first orders he signed when he officially entered into office on January 23, besides the federal hiring freeze (with the exception of the military) and the Mexico City policy, which bars foreign aid to abortion counselling.

The TPP, negotiated by the Obama administration, failed to be ratified by the US Congress during Obama's two terms.

Talking to Dat Viet newspaper, economist Le Dang Doanh, said the order came by no means as a surprise, because Trump had been stressing his intention to withdraw in his campaign speeches and later as the president elect. 

“However, this is the first thing he did as soon as he was inaugurated. This is going to be a big blow to globalisation. The world is going to need a while to figure out what this decision means and adjust,” he said.

In terms of effects on Vietnam, Doanh expressed hope that the bilateral trade agreement signed in 2011 would still remain, 

Earlier, in an article for VIR, US ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius said, “Even in the absence of TPP, we are not giving up on pursuing our positive trade agenda within the region.” 

Right after Trump’s move, Australian Trade Minster Steven Ciobo was quoted by Sky News as saying that Australia is working on a 'TPP 12 minus one,' effectively continuing the deal without the US.

As reported by Reuters, Japanese Minister of Trade and Industry Hiroshige Seko said that Japan will continue to stress the strategic and economic importance of the Trans-Pacific Partnership to the United States, adding that it would be important for the TPP to have the United States as a member.

VIR