USABC Applauds the Successful Conclusion of Major Agreements around IPEF

(San Francisco) Today, the US-ASEAN Business Council applauds the efforts of all participating nations, including the United States and the seven ASEAN member states, in the negotiations to create the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) agreement.

Despite political headwinds and complexities associated with negotiating trade agreements that have made it difficult to reach a consensus on the provisions in Pillar 1 on trade, negotiators have succeeded in the remaining three IPEF pillars of interest to the American business community: promoting resiliency of supply chains; supporting the transition to clean energy economies; and strengthening anti-corruption measures.

USABC and its members look forward to seeing the full texts of the newly completed agreements and for all stakeholders to build upon this momentum of success, moving forward.

“While recognizing that this phase marks the beginning of the creation of the IPEF, we believe the commitments made by all 14 IPEF member countries enhance the likelihood that the three completed pillars will produce meaningful results, including commercial opportunities for U.S. companies competing in the Indo-Pacific.”, said Amb. Ted Osius, President & CEO of USABC.

“We also believe that any such initial gains generated for IPEF member economies will be durable, because of the creation of an IPEF Council and Joint Commission,” he added.

“Based on comments made by IPEF governments, it appears that the negotiations produced a virtuous cycle, where IPEF members, including the seven ASEAN member states, developed increasingly ambitious goals for developing clean and fair economies during the past year of negotiations.”, said Marc Mealy, Chief Policy Officer and Senior Vice President of USABC.

“The successful completion of IPEF pillar 3 on clean energy economies and subsequent work plans, along with the sustainable energy related recommendations such as reducing tariffs on clean energy products offered by the APEC Business Coalition, can offer the US private sector and ASEAN’s members of both IPEF and APEC, additional policy and regulatory platforms to develop partnerships to support ASEAN’s regional priorities related to sustainable energy transition development,” he added.