Indo-Pacific Framework

Indo-Pacific Framework

Tim Hammerich
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

The Biden Administration formally launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework with 12 other countries. The framework isn’t a trade agreement in itself, but Farmers for Free Trade executive director Brian Kuehl is hopeful that it will make agreements easier to negotiate with partner countries.

Kuehl… “The goal, I think, of the Biden administration is to encourage this bloc of nations to work together on common interests where they can, but they recognize for some countries, some issues are going to be harder than other issues. And so, they're trying to find common ground where they can across this bloc of countries that, again, serves as a counterweight a significant counterweight to China. So, trade is one of those pillars, and we certainly hope that we're going to see a number of the countries sign up and work together on trade. Trade agreements with that follow, so this is not a trade agreement itself.”

Kuehl says it’s the kind of announcement that American agriculture has been waiting for. The framework involves several countries in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.

Kuehl… “The Indo-Pacific economic framework that the Biden administration rolled out is a framework that involves many of the countries that were involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but it doesn't include, for example, Mexico, which was part of TPP. It does include India, so it has a lot more heft in the Indo-Pacific region and sort of all those Southeast Asian countries, including India, that are at the table.”

Kuehl added that he is pleased to see the U.S. taking the lead in this initiative.

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