WTO: Uncertain impact from Trump threat to exit TPP

A Chinese woman checks a handbag at an American fashion boutique at an up-scale shopping mall in Beijing, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016. US President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement that he plans to quit the Trans-Pacific Partnership is drawing vows from other Pacific Rim countries to push ahead with the trade pact while they also pursue free trade deals with China. —ANDY WONG/AP

GENEVA (AP) — The head of the World Trade Organization says the impact of Donald Trump’s threat to pull the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership will depend on what the president-elect sees as the alternative.

WTO director-general Roberto Azevedo says hasn’t spoken with Trump but is “ready for a conversation” and hasn’t had any indication that Trump would pull the U.S. out of the trade body either.

Speaking to reporters Thursday in Geneva, Azevedo said he wouldn’t speculate about future U.S. policies but said the WTO would continue its work even if Trump withdraws the world’s biggest economy

Azevedo acknowledged concerns about some types of trade, “but I haven’t heard anybody say that trade is bad for the United States.”

Trump has called the TPP a “disaster” for American jobs.