MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Friday, US President Donald Trump's administration said the United States was withdrawing from the TPP free trade deal. The move followed multiple pledges by Trump during his election campaign to scrap the "terrible deal."
"The government is now saying ‘plan B’ is an alternate agreement with the 11 other countries that were part of the TPP, however they no idea whether this is even worth doing… We have asked the government for economic modeling on the value to Australia of an agreement without the US but they haven't bothered doing any. If ‘plan B’ ever happens it would require independent economic evidence, another parliamentary inquiry and new legislation," Clare told The Guardian newspaper.
Despite the lack of plans, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has made multiple statements on his hope to keep the TPP in some form despite Trump's election across the Pacific in November. Trade Minister Steve Ciobo has also been involved in efforts to keep the trade agreement alive, meeting several TPP signatory leaders to draw up plans to take the TPP forward without the United States.
The parties to the TPP agreement were the United States, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. Despite being finalized, the deal remained unratified and was only ratified by Japan hours before Trump's inauguration. The details of the controversial free trade agreement, negotiated in unusual secrecy, were revealed to the public after almost seven years of discussions. Opponents said the pact would undermine standards and regulations on environmental protection, health and safety, as well as workers’ rights.
