On February 23, the U.S. Chamber submitted business recommendations to the administration on its efforts to develop an Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). The comments commend the Biden administration’s recognition of “the strategic importance of the Indo-Pacific to America’s global leadership and security” but argues in favor of re-joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which has entered into force and is attracting new applicants despite the U.S. withdrawal in 2017.

Even so, the Chamber encourages the administration to act quickly on IPEF. The document contends the administration should move swiftly, draw on trade disciplines the U.S. has developed and applied in other contexts, take advantage of IPEF’s flexible framework to achieve desired outcomes on different timetables, and engage with public and private stakeholders.

The Chamber outlines important elements that could be achieved through IPEF and highlights the following as points for inclusion in the new framework:

• Digital trade—To counter foreign trade barriers, IPEF should include an enforceable digital trade agreement that builds upon the high standards the U.S. has already negotiated in its agreements with Japan and in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA);
• Customs administration and trade facilitation—The IPEF should expand on the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) and customs measures in U.S. FTAs to streamline procedures and ease logistical impediments to the free flow of goods and services;
• Good regulatory practices—The IPEF should explore opportunities for regulatory cooperation by incorporating and building upon provisions from the Good Regulatory Practices and Technical Barriers to Trade sections in USMCA and the recently concluded WTO Reference Paper on Services Domestic Regulation;
• Anticorruption—The IPEF should include measures to prevent and combat bribery and corruption, such as those found in the U.S. trade protocols with Brazil and Ecuador;
• Government procurement—The IPEF should include commitments on government procurement procedures, such as those in the USMCA, and increase funding for IPEF partners under the U.S. Trade and Development Agency’s Global Procurement Initiative;
• Health systems—The IPEF should include a health track for dialogue to strengthen health systems;
• Medical products—The IPEF should support tariff elimination on health products, reiterate commitments to refrain from export restrictions, and strengthen regulatory cooperation and capacity building;
• Infrastructure—The IPEF should include U.S. commitments to infrastructure development in the region, including the development and deployment of 5G. It should also include active coordination of research activities and dialogues to support supply chain diversification and domestic production capabilities;
• Sustainability—The IPEF should include near-term initiatives that support resource efficiency, low carbon energy projects, supply chain resiliency, and other sustainability goals;
• Energy transition and climate change mitigation—The IPEF should include regulatory alignment on clean energy technologies and other decarbonization efforts, cooperation on strategic minerals, and tariff elimination on a list of environmental goods;
• Intellectual property capacity building—The IPEF should incentivize global participation in ecosystems for innovation through IP capacity building;
• Technology standards—The IPEF should preserve a market-based approach to technology standards and establish common standards for procurement-based innovation; and
• Export controls—The IPEF should contain an agreed framework for member countries to consult on an ongoing basis on the commercial implications of the evolving export control regime for sensitive technologies.

On February 18, the Chamber also joined a multi-associationletterurging the administration to develop an ambitious IPEF that seeks to “open markets, promote inclusive trade and economic growth, enable rules-based commerce, increase sustainability, and promote shared values and interests.”

The Chamber is meeting with administration officials engaged on this effort to convey these messages. For further information, please contact Senior Vice President for Asia Charles Freeman (cfreeman@uschamber.com).

Source: www.uschamber.com