Results of Indo-Pacific trade talks likely this year, Tai says

Negotiations over a US-led Indo-Pacific trade pact are likely to yield results this year, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said. 

Momentum is growing for the 14-nation economic initiative known as the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity, with the next round of talks set in Singapore in May, Tai said Thursday at a press conference in Tokyo. 

The IPEF, launched last May during President Joe Biden’s trip to Asia, aims to strengthen US trade relationships in the region excluding China and is part of Washington’s efforts to counter Beijing’s growing global clout. The pact, which includes nations accounting for 40% of the global economy, demonstrates its trade commitment to the region, she said.  

The US was not aiming to decouple Beijing from US or the global economy, she said. 

“That is not the goal. Nor that I think it is really achievable,” Tai said. “China has a very very large footprint in global trade and economics. The challenge for us is figure out how to level the playing field in the trade sphere, how to identify the challenges that we are facing with respect to that enormous footprint that China has.”

The world’s two largest economies have clashed over everything from Taiwan and semiconductors to the alleged spy balloon that the US shot down in February. 

Tai’s visit comes also after a flurry of trade-related moves by Japan in late March. Japan struck a deal with the US on critical mineral supply chains for electric vehicles. It also adopted tougher rules on exports of leading-edge chipmaking technology following US-led efforts to contain China’s chipmaking ambitions. Also, Japan eased export restrictions of key semiconductor materials to South Korea.