President Trump appears to have backed away from the prospect of rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, ending his brief flirtation with the idea of heading back into the trade group that he abandoned. The president said five days ago that he’d be happy to sign back up to the TPP, providing he got a better deal than Obama. But in a late-night tweet Tuesday, it seemed that his temporary warming to the partnership had come to an end. “While Japan and South Korea would like us to go back into TPP, I don’t like the deal for the United States,” he wrote. “Too many contingencies and no way to get out if it doesn’t work. Bilateral deals are far more efficient, profitable and better for OUR workers. Look how bad WTO is to U.S.” Trump’s tweet came ahead of planned trade talks Wednesday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a strong proponent of the TPP.
