Sen. Sherrod Brown backed President Donald Trump's decision today to withdraw from a Pacific free-trade pact known as the Trans Pacific Partnership, which was negotiated by former President Barack Obama.

"Throwing out TPP is the first necessary step in overhauling our trade policy to put American workers first,” said Brown. “I stand ready to support Ohio workers by working with the Trump administration to renegotiate NAFTA, put American workers ahead of corporate profits, and create jobs.”

The trade pact involved the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim countries and would have created a free-trade zone covering 40 percent of the world's economy. China is not a member of the pact.

U.S. companies strongly backed the pact because it would have opened tariff-free markets to their goods, but organized labor and Trump opposed it, arguing it would encourage American companies to shift production abroad.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, while noting "one in four Ohio jobs" depends on exports, said he has concerns "that any final TPP agreement needed to address" what he referred as China manipulating its currency to make its exports to the United States less expensive.

"We can do better and I look forward to working with the Trump administration and engaging our allies on better trade agreements," Portman said.