With U.S. President Donald Trump having just delivered his appraisal of the state of the union, it's worth remembering what still ranks as one of the worst decisions of his presidency: the withdrawal of the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. It happened just about a year ago.
You'll recall that the TPP was an agreement between the U.S. and 11 other countries — Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, Chile and Peru — representing about 40 percent of the world economy.
Rejecting the TPP was, for Trump, a highly symbolic act buttressing his assertions that the U.S. has made bad trade deals that have diverted jobs, incomes and influence to foreign countries. He pledged to do better.