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Biden lauds IPEF progress as trade deal stumbles
US President says the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) begins a dialogue on critical minerals to create clean energy jobs.
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US President Joe Biden delivers remarks during the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) Leaders event at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in San Francisco, California, US, November 16, 2023. (Reuters/Brittany Hosea-Small)
D
espite stumbling in trade negotiations, countries in the United States-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) have agreed on three out of four pillars of the initiative, covering cooperation on the supply chain, clean energy and anti-corruption measures.
Ministers from the 14 IPEF countries formally signed the text of the third pillar, covering supply chain resiliency, at a meeting during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders' Summit in San Francisco, in the US.
US President Joe Biden welcomed the progress and said business leaders were more likely to invest in a region in which there was less corruption and showed transparency. But he also admitted there was “more work to do” despite the negotiations making progress on strong labor and environmental standards.
“We’re launching a critical minerals dialogue to further strengthen our supply chain and create clean energy jobs,” he said at the leaders’ summit on Thursday, which was attended by heads of state of the IPEF partners, including President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
The agreements on three of the four IPEF pillars, however, leaves the initiative's trade pillar in limbo, after negotiations over the past week failed to produce a deal.
Read also: Ministers fail to reach consensus on IPEF, need more talks on trade
The lack of an IPEF trade deal is a setback for the Biden administration. It had aimed to showcase the initiative during the APEC Summit as a symbol of its economic re-engagement in Asia, providing countries with a counterweight to China's growing clout in the region.
