The US intends to initiate a new economic framework for the Indo-Pacific next year, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said yesterday as US President Joe Biden’s administration aims to reinvigorate its standing in the region.
“We’re likely to launch a more formal process in the beginning of next year, which will culminate in a proper economic framework” in Asia, Raimondo said at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore. “I am here in the region beginning the discussions, laying the groundwork.”
It is clear that many people in the region want the US to rejoin the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, Raimondo said, adding that “for various reasons, that is not going to happen now.”
Photo: Bloomberg
Biden has pledged to step up US engagement in Asia after years of ceding influence to China.
Yet the administration has also been accused of lacking an economic vision for the region nearly five years after former US president Donald Trump withdrew from an 11-nation Pacific trade deal.
In Tokyo earlier this week, Raimondo agreed to begin talks on resolving disputes over tariffs imposed on Japanese steel and aluminum under Trump.
That came on the heels of a similar deal with European nations.
The US and Japan also agreed to establish a Commercial and Industrial Partnership, aimed at maintaining a free and fair economic order, improving industrial competitiveness, shoring up supply chains and addressing climate change issues.
The US administration is focused on creating good jobs at home, but “we are equally focused on restrengthening our relationships with our allies — in Europe, in the Indo-Pacific and around the world,” Raimondo said at the forum. “We’re talking about onshoring, but we’re also talking about friendshoring.”
“Take semiconductors — it is a global, complex supply chain,” she said. “That won’t change and that is OK. We don’t think everything can be domestically produced, so we want to work with our allies and friendshore.”
However, along with that collaboration, the administration wants to increase the domestic supply of chips, both from US firms and also from foreign companies, she said.
One way that the US is trying to ameliorate that chip shortage was to request supply chain information from top chipmakers.
Raimondo reiterated that the data request from her department is voluntary and the US would keep information it received “strictly and completely confidential.”
“Increasing transparency will reduce the bottlenecks,” she said in an earlier appearance on Bloomberg Television.
However, Raimondo did not comment on whether the US is concerned that foreign governments might adopt similar measures and request information from US companies.
Raimondo also called on China to live up to its commitments, including in a trade deal between the two nations.
“China needs to play by the rules, they need to respect our IP [intellectual property], they need to live up to their commitments,” she said.
“Right now for example in the so-called phase 1 deal where the Chinese committed to purchasing a certain amount of aircraft and agricultural products, they’re not doing that, they’re not living up to their commitments,” Raimondo added.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his