Participants “continued to make progress” on trade and other issues at the fourth round of talks on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework held July 9-15 in South Korea, U.S. officials said recently without offering any additional details.
IPEF was launched in 2022 with the aim of strengthening U.S. ties to the region and creating “a stronger, fairer, more resilient economy for families, workers, and businesses.” Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam are the current participants, and each of them except India has pledged to take part in all the initiative’s four pillars: trade (which India opted out of), supply chains, clean economy, and fair economy.
Negotiating texts were shared and discussed at previous negotiating rounds, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said that during the most recent talks there was further progress toward “high-standard outcomes” on trade, clean economy, and fair economy. Additional negotiating rounds are expected this year and there has been some speculation that talks could be concluded before or during the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit this November.
Also at the July round participants advanced the legal review of the proposed agreement reached at a May ministerial meeting on making supply chains more resilient and competitive. The House and Senate in the U.S. have each passed legislation that would allow implementation of this agreement but require congressional approval of any further IPEF agreements.
For more information on IPEF, please contact Nicole Bivens Collinson at (202) 730-4956 or via email.
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