More than a year after President Trump shocked Washington by fulfilling his promise to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, his struggle to determine whether he made the right decision has spilled into public view.

The president made a series of whiplash-inducing comments on the multilateral trade deal this month, causing frustration among aides and testing the patience of newly-appointed National Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow. During a meeting in early April with lawmakers from farm states, Trump told Kudlow to launch a review of TPP to explore whether American workers would benefit from the U.S. rejoining the free trade agreement.