Sen. Ben Sasse: Trump’s Telling Kudlow to Pull an About Face and Reenter TPP
Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) is telling reporters that President Trump is thinking about having America re-join the Trans-Pacific Partnership. This comes after Trump withdrew America from the international trade agreement last year and repeatedly criticized it throughout 2016.
Sasse was one of several conservative congressmen and governors who appeared at the White House today to talk about trade with Trump, economic adviser Larry Kudlow and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. One of the topics that came up was the possibility that Midwestern farmers might get hurt if America’s economic friction with China leads into a trade war.
According to Sasse, Trump told his economic team to look into re-entry with TPP as a way to address this contingency.
“The president multiple times reaffirmed in general to all of us and looked right at Larry Kudlow and said, ‘Larry, go get it done,'” Sasse said. “If that happens, that’s huge news.”
If Trump brings America back into TPP, it would directly contradict his various past statements about how the trade arrangement was a globalist economic “disaster” for the country. Sasse isn’t sure whether Trump would actually reverse on the trade deal, but Politico reports that the president is hearing advice to reconsider the deal.
“We should be leading the TPP discussions. We shouldn’t be outside TPP,” said Sasse “[Trump] heard a concerted group of people that understand the value of TPP. And he directed Larry Kudlow and Ambassador Lighthizer in the meeting to lead the negotiation of the U.S.’s possible re-engagement in TPP.”
[Image via screengrab]
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