To Form a New Economic Framework in the Region
The United States announced that it would form a new economic framework in the Indo-Pacific region early next year while organizing a new trade council with Japan. According to experts, both are to suppress the influence of China. The announcement was made the day after the first online summit between the presidents of the United States and China.
According to Bloomberg and Reuters, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in Singapore on Nov. 17 that the economic framework formation will start early next year and her current visit to Asia is to set the stage for it.
“Although many in the Indo-Pacific region are wishing for the United States’ return to the CPTPP, it will not occur soon for various reasons,” she said.
Previously, the United States planned to form a trans-Pacific partnership with 11 other states and then withdrew in 2017. Then, the 11 including Japan, Australia and Mexico launched the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership on Dec. 30, 2018. China, which was against the U.S.-led partnership, applied for CPTPP membership in September this year.
At the 28th APEC Summit on Nov. 13, U.S. President Joe Biden said that the United States would deepen its economic involvement in the Indo-Pacific region. At his summit with East Asian states in October this year, he discussed economic framework development in the region based on cooperation with the states.
As for the trade council, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Japanese Economy and Industry Minister Koichi Hagiuda had a meeting in Tokyo on Nov. 17 and announced the establishment of the council to be called the US-Japan Partnership on Trade.
The partnership will cover global issues common to the United States and Japan, collaboration in the Indo-Pacific region, cooperation in trade, and so on. The first meeting of the partnership is scheduled to take place early next year.