Fourth Round Of IPEF Trade Talks Underway

A fourth round of talks on the proposed Indo-Pacific Economic Framework is underway in Busan, South Korea designed to set the parameters for a final deal ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders summit in San Francisco in November.

• Politico reports that, "The 14 countries participating in the talks completed a supply chain agreement in May under Pillar Two of the negotiations. But that still leaves three other pillars left to finish: Pillar One, covering an array of trade concerns; Pillar Three, covering clean energy and climate friendly technologies; and Pillar Four, covering anti-corruption measures and tax initiatives."
• The IPEF framework has been criticised for providing insufficient market access to achieve the goal of presenting a credible alternative to bilateral Chinese regional trade agreements.
• Former Deputy USTR during the Bush administration, John Veroneau, said: “At the last round of IPEF talks in Singapore in May, U.S. officials emphasized that the IPEF will not be a free trade agreement, but were hard pressed to say what it is. Support from key U.S. business groups is now wavering, leaving anti-trade ideologues as the loudest voices still talking about the IPEF.”