Unwilling to pursue trade agreements that are unpopular in the United States, President Joe Biden on Monday is rolling out a different type of economic agreement among Indo-Pacific countries.
Biden will announce in Tokyo the initial participants in his Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, an attempt to deepen economic engagement and cooperation in the region and help counter China’s growing economic and military influence.
The pact focuses on critical areas that the United States believes will be important in the 21st century including supply chains, digital trade, clean energy and anticorruption.
The Obama administration had hoped to assert U.S. leadership in the region through the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a comprehensive trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim countries. But forme
