United States President Donald Trump on Monday withdrew his country’s participation from the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, which was backed by his predecessor Barack Obama but not approved by Congress, AFP reported. The move was one of the several “Day One” promises Trump had made during his election campaign.

Trump had said that individual trade deals would be facilitated with the participating countries, which would allow the US to end the agreement “if somebody misbehaves”. The newly-inducted president said this was part of his efforts to boost the country’s manufacturing sector. “We just did a great thing for the American worker,” his said after signing the executive order, according to AFP.

During a subsequent meeting with manufacturers on Monday, Trump told them that certain corporate taxes and regulations would be reduced. He asked the chief executives of Ford Motor Co, Dell Technologies Inc, Tesla Motors Inc and others to offer suggestions to improve manufacturing, Reuters reported.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership – the world’s biggest multinational trade deal – was signed in Auckland, New Zealand, on February 2, 2016, by ministers from its 12 signatory countries. The deal was aimed at facilitating investment and eliminating nearly all tariffs among states across the Pacific Rim. It included the US, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Chile and Peru, which account for 40% of the global economy.

During his election campaign, Trump had referred to the deal as a “job-killing disaster”, following which Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had said that the pact would be meaningless without US participation. There were protests on the streets of Auckland during the signing of the deal as some sections believed that the agreement would lead to job cuts, affect sovereignty in the Asia-Pacific states and benefit big corporates rather than workers.

Besides pulling the US out of the Trans-Pacific deal, Trump’s “Day One” promises also included repealing the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. Other “Day One” plans remain unfulfilled, including proposing a constitutional amendment imposing term limits on Congress members and ending Obama’s policies that deferred deportations for illegal migrants.