Trump Now Signals He's Still Wary of TPP

President Donald Trump late Tuesday night distanced himself from the Trans-Pacific Partnership just one week after signaling his openness to the agreement.

While Japan and South Korea would like us to go back into TPP, I don’t like the deal for the United States. Too many contingencies and no way to get out if it doesn’t work. Bilateral deals are far more efficient, profitable and better for OUR workers. Look how bad WTO is to U.S.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2018

South Korea, despite having expressed interest in the TPP, has not signed the agreement.

Last week, Trump tweeted that he would consider rejoining the TPP despite his strong opposition to it during his campaign if certain criteria were met.

Would only join TPP if the deal were substantially better than the deal offered to Pres. Obama. We already have BILATERAL deals with six of the eleven nations in TPP, and are working to make a deal with the biggest of those nations, Japan, who has hit us hard on trade for years!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2018

The president told lawmakers from farm states last week that he directed his economic adviser Larry Kudlow and the U.S. Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer, to determine whether the U.S. should rejoin the agreement.

"He got it really loudly and clearly today from a lot of us," Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., told Politico after meeting at the White House last week. "If you want to send a message to China, the best way to do that is to start doing business with their competitors. So he was very open to it."

Trump meets with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe this week at Mar-a-Lago.

• Kudlow: TPP Reconsideration More 'Thought' Than 'Policy'
• Japan's Abe to Meet With Trump as Scandals Swirl at Home