Two Whanganui political campaigners yesterday welcomed the possible demise of the controversial Trans Pacific Partnership, but were left wondering at the cost.
Dr Chris Cresswell and Denise Lockett said the partnership appears to be dead in the water following yesterday's election of Donald Trump as US President.
Both have campaigned passionately alongside tens of thousands of New Zealanders against the partnership, described yesterday by Prime Minister John Key as having "very close to zero" chance of now being ratified in the US. Trump has said he is against the deal and would not commit the United States to it.
Dr Cresswell said that "makes my day" but added he would not believe it until the TPP was officially scrapped. "They might still try to push something through - there were a lot of very powerful players involved," Dr Cresswell said.
The TPP threatened New Zealand in a number of ways and in particular in health care and the environment, he said. "And we would have been powerless to do anything about it."