On January 23rd, President Donald Trump formally announced his decision to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The move is part of a larger push from the Trump administration to move towards more American-centric models of trade. At Monday's signing ceremony, in the White House, Trump stated, "We've been talking about this for a long time. It's a great thing for the American worker". Trump has also stated that in the future, United States will only sign trade agreements with individual allies. "We're going to stop the ridiculous trade deals that have taken everybody out of our country and taken companies out of our country, and it's going to be reversed," Trump asserted. "I think you're going to have a lot of companies come back to our country".

Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (the deal was brokered by his predecessor) has far-reaching international consequences. The TPP aimed to tie a dozen nations (ranging from Japan to Australia to Canada) together through trade rules, link the United States permanently to the fast-growing region of East Asia, and create a check against China's rising power. China has already moved in response to Trump's declaration, and is in the process of completing its own pact, named the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. China's trade agreement seeks to unite Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and India with the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Withdrawing from the TPP has caused outcry from both sides of the aisle in Congress (the proposal has yet to be ratified). While many Republicans applaud the decision, there is nevertheless dissent. Republican Senator and former presidential candidate John McCain has called the declaration a "serious mistake", saying that, "this decision will forfeit the opportunity to promote American exports, reduce trade barriers, open new markets, and protect American invention and innovation... It will create an opening for China to rewrite the economic rules of the road at the expense of American workers. And it will send a troubling signal of American disengagement in the Asia-Pacific region at a time we can least afford it". The decision to withdraw from the TPP is also incongruous with Trump's previously harsh statements regarding China. Michael B. Froman, the trade representative who negotiated the pact for former president Barrack Obama, has asserted that, "There's no doubt that this action will be seen as a huge, huge win for China. For the Trump administration, after all this talk about being tough on China, for their first action to basically hand the keys to China and say we're withdrawing from our leadership position in this region is geostrategically damaging". The remaining members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership are as of now considering their options. Steven Ciobo, Australia's trade minister, has stated that there is currently exploration of a "TPP minus one," (excluding the United States) underway.