CANBERRA, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Australian top government officials on Thursday expressed concern over the passage by the U.S. Congress of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12-nation regional free trade agreement after Donald Trump won the presidential election in the United States Wednesday.
"I'd say that the TPP's U.S. passage is less likely than likely," Steve Ciobo, minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment said to Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) radio.
"Importantly though, across trade, Donald Trump has made it clear that he's a believer in trade that benefits America, that benefits American jobs and American economic growth and helps with their deficit repair. Now those are goals that aren't dissimilar to obviously our trade aspirations here in Australia. We want trade deals that are good for Australia, good for Australian jobs, and good for helping to restore Australia's budget," he said.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said at a press conference in the parliament that he had already had a telephone conversation with Trump, when both men discussed briefly on trade issues including the TPP.
"...on trade, yes we did discuss, briefly, the TPP and I explained why Australia supported its ratification to him," Turnbull said.
When asked about Trump's reaction to Australia's stance, Turnbull said he did not want to quoteTrump. "We agreed that we could refer to the fact that we had the discussion but I think his views on that treaty are pretty well-known."
He stressed that as prime minister, his job is to advocate the interests of Australia.
"We believe the ratification of the TPP is in our national interest. It is in Australia's national interests. We believe it makes, and the argument we have put to the United States is that it is in America's strategic interest to be seen to be the cornerstone of an important trade agreement in our region ..." said Turnbull.
Earlier on Thursday, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said if the TPP fails then Australia would turn its attention to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a 16-nation deal. that comprises the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, China, Australia, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.
