Trump Vows to Pull U.S. from TPP Pact

Washington, June 28 (Jiji Press)--Presumptive U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Tuesday promised to pull the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal, scrapping his position that the 12-country pact should be renegotiated. "I am going to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which has not yet been ratified," Trump said in a speech in Pennsylvania. "The TPP, as it is known, would be the death blow for American manufacturing," he argued. In his trade policy released the same day, the 70-year-old billionaire put first a U.S. exit from the TPP pact, which was signed in February by the 12 countries, also including Japan. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, 68, slated to receive the Democratic nomination, has also criticized the free trade deal. "We will defend American jobs and American workers by saying no to bad trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership," she has said. But Trump stressed that Clinton strongly supported the TPP when she was in office, calling her current policy "nonsense." Meanwhile, Trump also attacked China's increasing exports and vowed to take strong countermeasures against unfair trade practices and currency devaluations. He expressed his support for Britain's decision to leave the European Union. "I want you to imagine how much better our future can be if we declare independence from the elites who led us from one financial and foreign policy disaster to another," he said. END