American Samoa's Congresswoman Aumua Amata has voiced her support for US President Donald Trump's executive order to withdraw the United States from the Trans Pacific Partnership.
US President Donald Trump reads an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership prior to signing it in the Oval Office of the White House. Photo: AFP
The TPP was signed last February by then President Barack Obama, but was not ratified by the US Congress.
Aumua said the TPP would have placed the tuna canning industry at great risk by allowing low-wage countries like Thailand to have the same access to markets in the United States without any of the fees associated with it.
She said not signing the TPP meant American Samoa's canneries could compete with those companies whose wages border on the equivalent of servitude.
She said she would continue to push for polices and legislation that allowed the local industry to thrive, such as returning the ability to set wages back to the local government.
