WASHINGTON // Donald Trump signed an executive order formally withdrawing the United States from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal on Monday, following up on a promise from his election campaign.
The move is a formality since the agreement had yet to receive required senate ratification. Mr Trump called the order a “great thing for the American worker”.
In an Oval Office ceremony, Mr Trump also signed an order imposing a federal hiring freeze and a directive reinstating a ban on providing federal money to international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the option.
The regulation has been something of a political football, instituted by Republican administrations and rescinded by Democrats since 1984.
Most recently, president Barack Obama ended the ban in 2009.
* Reuters and Associated Press
