Trump strikes

PRESIDENT elect Donald Trump declared on Monday that he wished to withdraw from the TransPacific Partnership trade deal. He called it a potential disaster for the US. President Barack Obama had also failed to get the 12-nation deal ratified by the US Congress a week ago. Hillary Clinton, Trump’s rival, also wished to veto the deal. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had done his best to convince Donald Trump of the importance of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But he got nowhere. The US President’s attitude affects the global order. India is very much involved. China’s President Xi Jinping has shown an intention to step in where Trump had decided to step out. Xi Jinping said that openness was vital for the partnership of the Asia-Paific. China has been pressing for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership which leaves out the US. The Trans-Pacific Partnership excluded China. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said at the Lima Summit that he wanted the US to be in the region but that if the US opted out, China should fill the vaccum. China is the largest source of growth in the global economy and the main trading partner of 120- 126 nations. Trump makes US claims to shape global norms particularly tenuous. China may or may not be able to design the new norms and enforce them. Trump’s emphasis on bilateral trade deals to bring jobs and industry back to the US portends ill for India. India has a great many people employed in US BPOs and other concerns and Trump’s protectionism may be ruinous to the Indian economy which is already tossed about by demonetisation.