It’s official: America is out of the TPP.

At a meeting in Vietnam, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said that the United States will not be returning to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.

“The United States pulled out of the TPP and it’s not going to change that decision. That does not mean we will not engage in this region,” Lighthizer told a news conference in Hanoi, Vietnam. He was attending a meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation countries.

TRENDING: Cartoon Exposes Truth About Black Lives Matter Movement Democrats and the Media Try to Hide

“The president made a decision that I certainly agree with – that bilateral negotiations are better for the United States than multilateral negotiations,” he said. “I believe at some point there will be a series of bilateral agreements with partners in this part of the world.”

In their high-level talks Sunday, the remaining 11 countries announced they looked forward to continuing the trade deal without U.S. involvement, Reuters reported.

New Zealand Trade Minister Todd McClay told reporters that the reaming countries were “going to put forward proposals on how to take TPP forward in November.”

On January 23, Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the United States from any involvement in the TPP trade deal.

Australia’s trade minister Steve Ciobo said that they planned to “leave the door open to the United States.”

“It may not suit US interests at this point in time to be part of the TPP but circumstances might change in the future,” he said.

The TPP took more than five years to negotiated and covered 40 percent of the global economy before the United States pulled out.

RELATED: CNN Pushes Anti-Trump Poll, But It Backfired Terribly

China welcomed the news, as they have been against greater economic cooperation between the Asian countries and the United States. Beijing is pushing its own Asia-based free-trade pact called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.





