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Speaking to supporters 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 (IPEF), 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 labor 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.
"Under the next administration... the Biden plan for 'TPP Two'
will be dead on day one," Trump said at a campaign event in Fort
Dodge, about 94 miles (150 km) north of Des Moines.
"It's worse than the first one, threatening to pulverize farmers
and manufacturers with another massive globalist monstrosity
designed to turbocharge outsourcing to Asia."
The Biden administration had hoped to finish key chapters of its
IPEF trade initiative in time for this week's Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting. It has vowed to continue
negotiating the ambitious deal, but election-year pressures and
resistance to tough commitments from some countries make a deal
unlikely, trade experts and business groups say.
(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Fort Dodge, Iowa; Editing by Chizu
Nomiyama)
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