Strengthening overlapping minilateral relationships like AUKUS and the Quad was one application. Others were newly created, such as the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity ( IPEF ).
The Biden administration increased its diplomatic and economic ties with Pacific Island nations after the impact of the May 2022 China-Solomon Islands protection package. For US-Pacific Summits in 2022 and 2023, President Joe Biden twice hosted Pacific Island Forum ( PIF ) leaders at the White House. The US also announced the US-Pacific Partnership Strategy, a strategy for strengthening participation.
Over the past four years, there have been an unusual amount of high-level social visits to Pacific Island states, including sessions by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, who was in Fiji in early December. The Biden administration also increased its diplomatic presence, opening embassies in Tonga, Kiribati, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands, and a US Agency for International Development ( USAID ) office in Fiji.
After support breaks in the years before, Biden announced a US$ 810 million aid deal over 10 years, including US$ 130 million for culture shift projects. This funding is still awaiting whole parliamentary approval, and its future under Trump 2.0 is still uncertain.
The Marshall Islands, Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia received an unprecedented package of US$ 7 billion over 20 years thanks to Biden’s renewed Compact of Freely Associated States ( COFA ) in March. These three strategically important nations in the Western Pacific, which receive the largest portion of US Pacific help and investment, have a long-standing exclusive relationship with the US. COFA may continue to permit the US to deliver defense, deploy troops, and run bases it.