WASHINGTON - The US is set to host the first gathering of Asian nations on an economic agreement envisioned by the White House as a counter to China's rising influence in the region.
Increasing so-called market access through lower tariffs has been a hallmark of roughly a dozen free-trade agreements that the US has negotiated since Nafta in the early 1990s. The IPEF can be a forum for"cross-fertilisation of ideas, and then we can move things together as a bloc," he said."This is a big deal," said Mr Tanee Sangrat, a Foreign Ministry spokesman."IPEF will provide a cooperation that will help Thailand achieve this makeover for our economy.""We need to make IPEF a framework where each country feels the concrete benefits," Mr Yasutoshi Nishimura, Japan's trade minister, said this week.
Mr Trump withdrew from the TPP shortly after taking office, fulfilling a campaign promise to exit from a deal negotiated under the Obama administration. It lives on among 11 members as the rebranded Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, an agreement China has sought to join.
Since the IPEF launch in May, the administration has held consultations with groups including organised labour, the business community, and bipartisan members of Congress"on delivering tangible economic benefits to workers and businesses in the US and our IPEF partners," the Commerce Department said in an emailed statement Wednesday.