US lawmakers push Washington’s trade envoy to bring market access into Biden’s Indo-Pacific strategy
- President Joe Biden’s Indo-Pacific Economic Framework aims to improve environmental and labour standards
- Indo-Pacific nations ‘are crying out for free trade negotiations with us’, said one senator
Washington’s top trade envoy came under fire from lawmakers on Thursday in a second day of testimony about US President Joe Biden’s policies to improve economic engagement with more countries as a way to counter China’s growing influence.
“Why take the carrot of market access off the table?” asked the committee’s ranking member Mike Crapo, a Republican from Idaho.
“We’ve got nations in the Indo-Pacific who are crying out for free trade negotiations with us so that they can strengthen their relationship to us economically, rather than being tied to China,” he said.
01:30
Global supply chain crisis bites in US cities as store shelves empty with rising demand
Released in February, the IPEF makes “open principles” governing cross-border data flows; supply chains “that are diverse, open and predictable” and “shared investments in decarbonisation and clean energy” its key goals in addition to labour and environmental considerations, according to a White House fact sheet.
