US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced on Monday that negotiations on the trade section of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) will require further work, signaling a setback for the Biden administration. Yellen stated at a news conference that substantial progress had been made on three of the four areas under discussion by the 14 IPEF member countries, but there are still “remaining issues” on trade.
The IPEF is a forum for multilateral talks aimed at forging agreements in areas such as trade, and is a centerpiece of the Biden administration’s efforts to strengthen economic ties with Asian nations and counter China’s increasing influence in the Pacific.
Yellen had hoped to make announcements regarding the trade pillar this week as leaders of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries gathered in San Francisco. However, talks on improving labor and environmental standards, and ways to enforce compliance have run into resistance from some member countries.
The negotiations were not aimed at reducing tariffs or improving market access, and an announcement of outcomes is more likely on clean energy cooperation and anti-corruption pillars of the IPEF.
Yellen expressed concerns about China’s excessive industrial capacity potentially flooding global markets with goods, but reiterated that the U.S. and China should seek fair trade relations and a level playing field on which their companies can compete.
The United States seeks to offer Asia a U.S.-led alternative to deeper economic ties with China, particularly as APEC countries, which are mostly IPEF members, gather in San Francisco.
