The second negotiating round for the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework was held March 13-19 in Bali, Indonesia.
IPEF was launched a year ago 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.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative states that in advance of the most recent negotiating round it shared trade negotiating text with IPEF partners on the topics of labor, environment, digital trade, and technical assistance. USTR had shared negotiating text on trade facilitation, agriculture, services domestic regulation, and transparency and good regulatory practices ahead of the first negotiating round, which was held Dec. 10-15 in Australia. (These are the same topics discussed in the first round of talks on the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade, which thus appears to be paralleling the IPEF negotiations.)
In addition, the Department of Commerce shared negotiating text for the supply chain and tax and anti-corruption economy pillars in advance of the second round, and for the clean energy, decarbonization, and infrastructure pillar in advance of a special negotiating round held Feb. 8-11 in India.
In Bali, USTR said, negotiators “exchanged views on the proposed new text and conducted follow-up conversations from the Brisbane and New Delhi rounds.” Participating countries “have committed to an aggressive negotiating schedule throughout 2023,” USTR said, but no additional details about the next in-person negotiating round have yet been released.
For more information on IPEF, please contact Nicole Bivens Collinson at (202) 730-4956 or via email.
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