US President-elect, Donald Trump, has announced in a video message outlining what he intends to do when he takes office in January, that the USA will quit the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal on his first day in the White House.

The TPP which @realdonaldtrump described as “a potential disaster for our country” is a trade deal which has been signed by 12 countries and covers 40% of the global economy. It was designed to reduce tariffs and trade barriers between America and a number of Pacific Rim nations including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Malaysia and Chile.

In his message, Donald Trump said that it was the intention of his administration to introduce “fair, bilateral trade deals that bring jobs and industry back onto American shores”.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the TPP trade deal would be meaningless without the involvement of the US.