[JURIST] US President-elect Donald Trump [official website] announced Monday that he would issue a notification of intent to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) [text] on his first day in office. Trump called the TPP a “potential disaster for our country” and said he will instead focus on negotiating “fair bilateral trade deals that bring jobs and industry back on American shores.” Trump also stated that his decision to withdraw from the TPP and all the other announcements made in the video shared Monday are in furtherance of his ambition to facilitate production and innovation within American borders. Throughout his campaign, Trump made criticisms of the TPP and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), although he made no mention of his intentions on NAFTA in Monday’s video.

Earlier this year the US became one of 12 signatories [JURIST report] to the TPP. The TPP would extend [Reuters report] from Canada to Vietnam and encompass 40 percent of the global economy. Those in support of the agreement, such as New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and US President Barack Obama [official profiles] argue that the agreement will be beneficial for all and give signatory nations a competitive edge both in the Asian-Pacific region and around the world. Members of the labor industry dispute the claimed benefits, arguing that job losses will result from the agreement as corporations will begin to send jobs to countries with less restrictive labor laws and lower costs. Trump’s announcement now leaves the future of the TPP uncertain as hours before Trump’s announcement, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe [official website], a supporter of the TPP, said [Guardian report] that the pact would be “meaningless” without the involvement of the US. Abe also stated that the pact could not be renegotiated without disturbing the benefits gained by all nations.