Craig Allen - President, US-China Business Council

Satu Limaye - Vice-President, East-West Center

Mary Lovely - Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics

Denis Simon - Professor of China Business and Technology & Senior Advisor to the President for China Affairs at Duke University

Later this May, the Biden administration is expected to unveil the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IEPF) – its signature economic and trade cooperation initiative for the Indo-Pacific region. The four-pillared framework will take the form of an “administrative arrangement” that “will not include new market access commitments” but will feature “high-standard outcomes” with a more “consultative” enforcement mechanism. The Framework clearly departs from the existing architecture of economic and trade liberalization in the Asia-Pacific, as represented by the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the Regional Economic Comprehensive Partnership (RCEP), and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA).

What is the Biden administration’s thinking behind the launch of IPEF? Is the Framework the ‘real deal’ – a meaningful economic and trade liberalization initiative – or is it mostly about telegraphing good intentions of U.S. commitment to the region? How are East and Southeast Asian nations reacting to the Framework’s launch and contents? Is IPEF fit for purpose as a meaningful regional rules-setting undertaking? Or is it primarily a means to de-emphasize – and decouple – the role of China within existing Asian and trans-Pacific supply chains?

On Wednesday, May 18, please join the ICAS Trade ‘n Technology Program virtually for a hybrid expert panel discussion on the Biden administration’s Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and its implications for the United States’ relations in Asia.