Is Donald Trump against free trade?
US President Trump withdraws from Trans-Pacific Partnership, saying the agreement harms the US.
The US president, Donald Trump, has been in office for less than a week, but he is already working towards fulfilling his campaign promises.
He has signed several executive orders in his first few days into the job. Many of them undoing laws and deals that were put in place by former President Barack Obama.
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On Monday, Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is a trade deal the Obama administration had worked on for several years.
It calls for lower taxes on trade between member countries.
Obama had said this would give the US an economic advantage over China, which was not part of the agreement.
But Trump insists withdrawal from the deal is a great thing for American workers.
Does he risk isolating his country? And who stands to gain from his decision?
Presenter: Richelle Carey
Guests:
Melinda St Louis – international campaigns director for Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch
Deborah Elms – executive director of the Asian Trade Centre
Gordon Chang – US foreign policy analyst and author of the book The Coming Collapse of China