Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, said on Saturday that he would kill off a Pacific trade pact being advanced by US President Joe Biden if he were to win the 2024 election and return to the White House.

Speaking to supporters in Iowa, Trump said he was against the regional trade deal being negotiated by the Biden administration with 13 other countries, arguing that it would hollow out US manufacturing and trigger job losses.

Talks on the trade sections of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, which is aimed at offering the region an alternative to China's growing trade clout, stumbled in recent days after some countries, including Vietnam and Indonesia, declined to commit to strong labor and environmental standards.

Trump, who withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that had been forged with many of the same countries after taking office in January 2017, said he would "knock out" what he referred to as "TPP Two" immediately upon taking office.

"Under the next administration... the Biden plan for 'TPP Two' will be dead on day one," Trump said at a campaign event in Fort Dodge, about 94 miles (150 km) north of Des Moines.

"It's worse than the first one, threatening to pulverize farmers and manufacturers with another massive globalist monstrosity designed to turbocharge outsourcing to Asia."

The Biden administration had hoped to finish key chapters of its IPEF trade initiative in time for this week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting. It has vowed to continue negotiating the ambitious deal, but election-year pressures and resistance to tough commitments from some countries make a deal unlikely, trade experts and business groups say. (Reuters-Yonhap)

• ·Drunk driver who killed father of two gets 10 years
• ·BTS’ V, actor Yoo Seung
• ·All residents with disabilities to get personal doctor
• ·"스벅 누가 마셔요"…중국서 스타벅스 꺾은 '이 브랜드'
• ·Korea, Japan hold working
• ·Hyundai Steel starts new campaign promoting recycled steel
• ·Korea, UK to adopt Downing Street Accord to elevate ties: presidential office
• ·Mnet’s ‘Street Dance Girls Fighter 2’ targets global audience with multinational teen dancers
• ·Scalpers take bigger cut of Korean music industry
• ·Man arrested for stabbing restaurant owner in Paju
• ·Number of youth addicted to online gambling rises
• ·Oman celebrates 53rd National Day, calls Korea reliable ally
• ·Twitch plans to shut down in S. Korea over high network costs
• ·Number of youth addicted to online gambling rises
• ·[Our Museums] Exploring quirky yet thoughtful world of Mr. Toilet House
• ·[From the Scene] Hyundai Motor looks into future of auto production in Singapore