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1 1 (December 2, 2021)

handle is hein.crs/goveexj0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional ~.Research Service Biden Administration Signals Plans for an Indo-Pacific Economic Framework December 2, 2021 During the East Asia Summit in late October, President Biden said that the United States will explore the development of an Indo-Pacific economic framework. In November, he dispatched Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and USTR Katherine Tai to Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and South Korea to begin discussions on potential negotiations that could start in early 2022. This announcement marks the Administration's first major trade and economic initiative in the region, aside from earlier cooperative supply chain agreements. Some Members of Congress and U.S. allies, such as Australia and Japan, have called for a more active U. S. trade policy, including U.S. leadership in regional trade initiatives. Some stakeholders have recommended a sectoral approach to start, such as on digital trade issues. The White House has not offered much detail on what the framework may include, but has indicated several topics of interest, including trade facilitation, digital trade, supply chain resiliency, clean energy, infrastructure, and worker standards, suggesting the framework could comprise multiple agreements. U. S. officials state that they do not envision a traditional trade agreement, but have not provided formal proposals on the legal structure and have not indicated whether they assess that such future agreements would require congressional approval. Seeking agreements that do not require congressional approval would limit the scope of potential commitments given Congress' constitutional authority to regulate U.S. foreign commerce. Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), which sets congressional trade negotiating objectives and allows for expedited congressional consideration of trade agreements when authorized, expired in July 2021, potentially complicating the congressional approval process for new trade initiatives. Relation to the Administration's Broader Indo-Pacific Strategy Since President Trump withdrew the United States' signature from the proposed 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in 2017, many observers have asserted that the United States lacks an economic and trade strategy sufficient to counter China's increasing economic influence. These stakeholders lament the U. S. absence from East Asian multilateral economic agreements, noting that this limits the U.S. ability to influence the direction of trade policy in the region and to keep pace with technological developments. In contrast, China and 14 other Asian countries in late 2020 signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade agreement, albeit more limited in commitments than the TPP, and in fall 2021, Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov IN11814 CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Membersand Committeesof Congress