SINGAPORE – The results of the last week’s Indo-Pacific Economic Framework ( IPEF ) meetings in Singapore heightened the potential and need for even greater private sector support.
Many people questioned the IPEF’s worth from the beginning because its ambition falls short of the Trans-Pacific Partnership ( TPP )’s previous US foray into Asia-Pacific trade leadership.
But the project’s rely on supply chain resilience, green market investments and tackling obstacles to doing business in the region is proving the Biden administration’s brilliance while reaffirming US leadership in local financial, investment and integration issues.
That was seen in next week’s filing of the Clean Economy and Fair Economy Agreements, which demonstrated the project’s partners continue to take the necessary steps for approval, acceptance and endorsement of IPEF agreements.
During the Singapore meeting, the US Department of Commerce’s Office of the Secretary announced six press releases, including notable new achievements in the areas of the IPEF Agreement Relating to Supply Chain Resilience ( Pillar II ), the IPEF Agreement Relating to a Clean Economy ( Pillar III ), and the IPEF Agreement Relating to a Fair Economy ( Pillar IV ), as well as the overarching Agreement on IPEF.
( The IPEF brings together Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and US. )
However, critics point out that IPEF fails to address the US’s obvious inability to handle local trade barriers and to create opportunities that conventional free trade agreements do not. They note IPEF does not identical TPP when it comes to business reform. However, the past year demonstrated how serious IPEF is about finding new ways to take the result.
Two weeks prior to the meetings, Dr. Deborah Elms, the renowned head of trade policy at the Hinrich Foundation, testified before the US Congress that” IPEF is a bad supplement” for what the different 13 members of the platform really desire: a US return to traditional free trade agreements.
She cited in particular the region’s desire for the US to sign up for the CPTPP, the Indo-Pacific’s successor to the TPP, which has provisions for market access, stronger labor and environmental provisions, and consistency of regulations in a range of sectors.
Others shared a similar assessment. A Politico article stated that” Doubts follow Raimondo on a trip to sign more IPEF deals” prior to US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo’s visit to Singapore, where she signed the two agreements and led a delegation of investors to the IPEF Clean Economy Investor Forum.
” ]W] ithin the business community, a big question hangs over the deals: will they make any difference”?, the article asks. Many in the private sector believed they would not, according to the report.
Realistically, a return to TPP is unlikely and wo n’t occur as a result of Donald Trump’s potential White House entry and the Democratic Party’s hard line on free trade. Trump, who resigned from TPP after his third day in office, has pledged to do the same for IPEF.
” Under the next administration … the Biden plan for’ TPP Two’ will be dead on day one”, Trump said at a recent campaign event in Iowa. It’s worse than the first one, threatening to pulverize farmers and manufacturers with yet another massive globalist monstrosity designed to boost outsourcing to Asia.
IPEF, of course, does no such thing, especially with the initiative’s relevant trade provisions now seemingly on indefinite hold. The division of IPEF into four pillars, with only one focusing on trade, turns out to be a useful feature rather than a bug.
The IPEF’s Investor Forum on Clean Economy, which is unique, demonstrates how engagement can occur when tangible outcomes are possible.  ,
The Singapore forum identified US$ 23 billion in terms of potential investment in accelerating the transition to green energy by establishing mechanisms for cooperation and enabling governments, developers, and investors to meet and address priorities in ways that are not otherwise known. Private equity firms KKR and GIP co- chaired the initiative, with global investors BlackRock, GIC, Rockefeller Foundation and Singapore’s Temasek all part of the coalition.
To catalyze investment to advance the energy transition, regulatory frameworks must be established. The IPEF partners continued their progress on a range of climate solutions through the cooperative work program ( CWP ) mechanism, which focuses on hydrogen, carbon markets, clean electricity, emissions intensity accounting, e- waste and small modular nuclear reactors.
Momentum is also building around the Indo- Pacific Partnership for Progress ( IP3 ), a collaboration of public, private, and non- profit leaders dedicated to mobilizing capital and expertise to advance economic growth, sustainability, and inclusivity.  ,
A US return to traditional free trade agreements would, as the Hinrich Foundation’s Elms noted, “bind the US to partners in the Indo- Pacific”. And as Bilahari Kausikan and I noted in our post about the US-Singapore FTA’s 20th anniversary, creating the most powerful geopolitical latticework for the US requires more than just a crisscross of strips representing diplomacy, defense, and development, but also trade.
FTAs that are properly executed will enhance that effort. The US must continue to be a regional leader that collaborates with numerous partners in whatever political contexts are acceptable. And for now, the IPEF remains the only game in town, as I wrote for Asia Times in November.
Singapore demonstrated the IPEF’s commitment to advance US interests in the area. The next step in advancing that success is to increase business and investor engagement, which are by design essential to IPEF.
Steven R. Okun serves as the senior adviser to Singapore-based geostrategic consulting firm McLarty Associates. He is the CEO of APAC Advisors.