ASIA/TARIFFS/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump, in a sharp reversal, told a gathering of farm-state lawmakers and governors on Thursday [4-12-18] morning that the United States was looking into rejoining a multicountry trade agreement known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a deal he pulled out of days after assuming the presidency. Mr. Trump’s reconsideration of an agreement he once denounced as a ‘rape of our country’ caught even his closest advisers by surprise and came as his administration faces stiff pushback from Republican lawmakers, farmers and other businesses concerned that the president’s threat of tariffs and other trade barriers will hurt them economically…Mr. Trump’s decision to throw out the Trans-Pacific Partnership and his pledge to tear up the North American Free Trade Agreement were bedrock promises of his populist campaign, which centered heavily on unfair trade practices that he said had robbed American manufacturers and workers.”
–Ana Swanson, “Trump Proposes Rejoining Trans-Pacific Partnership,” The New York Times online, April 12, 2018