With No FTA Plans, IPEF Lacks Durability, Former Official Says
The Biden administration needs a more “credible, durable economic strategy” in the Indo-Pacific than the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, such as one that involves formal trade agreements, said Matthew Goodman, senior vice president for economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. In a July 31 commentary for CSIS, Goodman, a former National Security Council official, said IPEF’s “greatest promise” is “as an incubator for new or revised provisions of a formal trade agreement in the Indo-Pacific region,” including one that includes new or updated chapters on labor, environment, digital standards, supply chain resilience and economic coercion.
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But so far the administration has been “explicit that it does not intend to negotiate a traditional trade agreement through IPEF,” Goodman said, “nor has it signaled an intention to continue IPEF past the end of this year.” He said it should be a “priority” to keep IPEF alive until early 2025 “when the next administration -- Biden or otherwise -- might return to formal trade negotiations.” Goodman warned that formal trade deals are being negotiated in the region without the U.S., which will have a “lasting impact on economic rules and norms in the region and beyond.”