President Donald Trump kept his campaign promise to repeal the Trans-Pacific Partnership, ex-president Barack Obama’s signature trade policy.
With the stroke of a pen on Monday, President Trump withdrew the United States from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal brokered by Obama.
Trump made repealing TPP a key part of his platform in the early days of his campaign.
TPP was a trade agreement between the U.S. and member countries of the European Union (EU) that benefitted the member countries by lowering tariffs and lifting barriers to trade.
Ex-president Obama claimed the trade deal would “promote economic growth” and “support the creation and retention of jobs”.
But President Trump argued that the trade deal would cause job losses in America and increase the outflow of American taxpayer dollars to other countries.
But it wasn’t all good news from the Oval Office.
On Friday, Trump angered homeowners when he signed an Executive Order removing the pending Private Mortgage Insurance rate cut that had been signed by Mr. Obama in the days before he left office.
Last week, Mr. Obama signed an Executive Order reducing the PMI fee by 0.60 percent, a savings of $500 on FHA-backed mortgage loans.
An hour after Trump signed the Executive Order, HUD announced it was suspending the pending mortgage insurance fee cut.
PMI is a monthly insurance premium that is paid in addition to the monthly mortgage. It protects the bank in case home buyers default on their loans.
Homeowners complain that by removing the insurance premium reduction, it will cost an average of $500 more a year for PMI insurance.
But in reality, Trump’s action will only affect home buyers who pay less than 20 percent down on a FHA mortgage loan.
Trump’s action will not affect home buyers who make down payments of 20% or more on homes priced above $419,000.
