Aumua Lauds President-Elect’s Plan to Withdraw from Trade Pact

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Congresswoman Aumua Amata has praised President-Elect Donald Trump’s announcement Monday that he plans to withdraw the United States from the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).

This is a trade agreement among twelve of the Pacific Rim countries, excluding China, and aims to promote economic growth; support the creation and retention of jobs; enhance innovation, productivity and competitiveness; raise living standards; reduce poverty in the signatories’ countries; and promote transparency, good governance, and enhanced labor and environmental protections.

The congresswoman said, “The TPP was bad news for American Samoa from the start, and I could not be more pleased to see that the President-Elect intends on withdrawing from the agreement.”

She said that almost more than any other industry, the TPP negatively affected the fishing industry in the United States and American Samoa.

The congresswoman said, “That is why I have been addressing the negative impacts that TPP would have, as part of several thrusts I have underway in Washington to stabilize and strengthen the fishing industry in American Samoa.”

In her view,”The TPP would have opened the floodgates for illegal and unregulated seafood from nations who pay their workers a fraction of what we pay ours.

“It would have also had negative environmental repercussions by allowing these nations who have been recently accused of using slave labor on their boats, and who fish without the environmental regulations followed by our fishermen, to fish unchecked while our fisherman, who are responsible stewards of our natural resources sat at the dock…that would have been unacceptable.”

Congresswoman Aumua thanked President-elect Trump for “his foresight and understanding of this issue, and for his plan to withdraw from this deal that has been a shadow over U.S. interests since its inception.”

She looks forward to working with the incoming administration to bring jobs and opportunities to the people of the U.S. and more specifically American Samoa and other U.S. territories.

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