Trump vows to kill Asia trade deal if elected

FORT DODGE, Iowa — Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, said on Saturday that he would kill off a Pacific trade pact being advanced by U.S. President Joe Biden if he were to win the 2024 election and return to the White House. Speaking in Iowa, Trump said he was against the regional trade deal being negotiated by the Biden administration with 13 other countries, arguing that it would hollow out U.S. manufacturing and trigger job losses. Talks on the trade sections of the Indo-pacific Economic Framework, which is aimed at offering the region an alternative to China’s growing trade clout, stumbled in recent days after some countries, including Vietnam and Indonesia, declined to commit to strong labour and environmental standards. Trump, who withdrew from the Trans-pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal that had been forged with many of the same countries after taking office in January 2017, said he would “knock out” what he referred to as “TPP Two” immediately upon taking office.