President Trump pulled the plug the ratification of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP is an odd animal whose framework agreement was signed February 2016 in New Zealand by Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam, but these signatures only started the process of each country’s TPP ratification. The ratification process allowed for further changes to the TPP, so it was widely expected that countries such as the US would determine the final standards ranging from workers’ rights to intellectual property protection.

Trump’s act was only symbolic; Congress and the Obama administration had already signaled in November that there would be no path to TPP ratification in the US.  The 12-Nation Pacific Trade Agreement is about a lot more than trade, future posts will outline the embattled pros and cons of TPP.