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Trump Announcement Of TPP Withdrawal Met With Applause From Union Leaders

January 23, 2017

President Donald Trump was applauded by organized labor leaders on Monday after he announced that he had withdrawn the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

A variety of union leaders were invited to participate in a White House meeting to discuss a range of issues, including trade, Reuters reported.

According to the White House, participants included North America's Building Trades Unions President Sean McGarvey, Laborers' International Union of North America President Terry O'Sullivan, SMART sheet metal workers' union President Joseph Sellers, United Brotherhood of Carpenters President Doug McCarron, and Mark McManus, president of the United Association that represents plumbers, pipefitters, welders, and others.

Trump began the meeting by noting his familiarity with organized labor.

"This is a group that I know well, whether personally or just because I've hired thousands and thousands and thousands of you," he began before quickly shifting to business.

"We just officially terminated TPP," the president said.

The announcement was celebrated with loud applause from the union leaders present. Organized labor has frequently voiced its displeasure with the 12-nation free trade pact forged by the Obama administration.

Trump signed the executive order officially withdrawing the United States from the trade deal of Pacific Rim countries on Monday in the Oval Office.