DONALD Trump says the United States will signal its withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact on his first day in the White House, one of six immediate steps aimed at “putting America first.”

The Republican billionaire made the pledge in a short video message outlining a list of priorities for his first 100 days and executive actions to be taken “on day one.”

“My agenda will be based on a simple core principle: putting America first,” said the 70-year-old president-elect, whose campaign tapped the anger of working-class Americans feeling left behind by globalization. It singled out trade deals such as the TPP as key culprits.

“On trade, I am going to issue our notification of intent to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a potential disaster for our country,” said Trump, who takes office on January 20.

“Instead, we will negotiate fair bilateral trade deals that bring jobs and industry back onto American shores,” he said.

Both the 12-nation TPP — signed in February but not yet in force — and the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement featured heavily in the White House race. Trump said they harmed the US economy and jobs and many see his victory as a repudiation of ever-deeper commercial ties.

Trump’s election platform called for scuttling the TPP — President Barack Obama’s signature trade initiative — as well as renegotiating NAFTA.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the “TPP without the United States would be meaningless.” He told reporters in Buenos Aires that the 12 TPP leaders who met in Lima on Saturday did not discuss putting the deal into effect without the US.

Matthias Helble, a research economist at the Asian Development Bank Institute in Tokyo, said: “The only glimmer of hope is that Trump is not fully abandoning the idea of trade opening.”

Trump’s pledge to pull out of the deal was one of six points on which he promised immediate executive action — which he can take without Congressional approval.

Trump said he would order an investigation into abuses of visa programs “that undercut the American worker.”

On energy, he pledged to boost the oil and gas sector and bring back coal.

He will also ask defense officials to create plans to protect the US “from cyber attacks and all other form of attacks.”

Sticking to his pledge to cut red tape, he promised “a rule which says that for every one new regulation, two old regulations must be eliminated.”

Though his own transition team includes several lobbyists, he also promised “a five-year ban on executive officials becoming lobbyists after they leave the administration.”

Trump will not push for further investigation of Hillary Clinton related to her private e-mail use and the Clinton Foundation, a close adviser said yesterday, breaking with a key campaign theme.

(from Shanghaidaily.com)