As one of his first moves in the Oval Office, President Trump pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership on January 23, 2017. At the time of the executive order to do so, he argued the trade deal was bad for America and therefore had to go. On the campaign trail, his words about the agreement were harsh.

“The Trans-Pacific Partnership is another disaster done and pushed by special interests who want to rape our country, just a continuing rape of our country,” Trump said in 2016. “That’s what it is, too. It’s a harsh word: It’s a rape of our country.”

But as China has become an increased focus for the administration, President Trump has reportedly directed his newly minted economic advisor Larry Kudlow to look into re-entering TPP as a way to hit the communist country economically. 

Republican Senator Ben Sasse, who attended a meeting with the President at the White House Thursday, is praising the reconsideration.