United States newly elected President, Donald Trump reportedly said that the US will quit the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact on the first day in the White House. The trade pact that involves 12 Asia-Pacific nations including major economies like Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Canada with a collective population of 800 million, if ratified would have covered nearly 40 per cent of the global economy.
While mentioning that his agenda would be putting “America First”, Trump reportedly said, “I’ve asked my transition team to develop a list of executive actions we can take on day one to restore our laws and bring back our jobs. On trade, I am going to issue our notification of intent to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.”
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The scrapping of the yet-to-be-ratified trade pact, however, would prove beneficial for apparel sector of India. Atul Mishra, an economist from the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry said, “Of India’s US $ 40 billion of textile export, US $ 9 billion goes to the US. If Vietnam gets greater market access (through TPP), this figure will see a decline of US $ 2-3 billion.” Also, India’s concerns over trade diversions and other non-tariff barriers will lessen and there is a great chance of bilateral boost to trade by India and US as TPP had been billed as a battle between the US and manufacturing powerhouse china over domination of global trade.
