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Opinion | Why the US’ Indo-Pacific Economic Framework is really all about India

  • If the IPEF seems to offer little to Southeast Asian members, that’s because it was never really meant to
  • Instead, the framework is another attempt to bring India into the Western fold while positioning it more strategically in the Indo-Pacific trade network

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets US President Joe Biden during the Quad leaders summit in Tokyo on May 24. Photo: AP
With much fanfare, US President Joe Biden launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) in Tokyo last month. Unveiled against the backdrop of the third in-person iteration of the Quad summit, and including 13 states of the Indo-Pacific region, the framework nevertheless did not get the reception Biden was hoping for.
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It was certainly not his “America is back” moment, and if the details of the IPEF are any indicator, nor was it the unrolling of the red carpet for America’s re-entry into the Asian trade architecture.

For starters, the framework sets the standards for cooperation on supply chain issues, the environment, labour and corruption. It is not a free trade deal or a multilateral agreement like the erstwhile US led-Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

In a region that already houses two major trade blocs – the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) – a lack of enthusiasm for a “framework” is not totally unfounded.
Yet most Indo-Pacific analysts can’t see the wood for the trees. The IPEF was not designed for the free traders in Asia but for the trade protectionist in the Indo-Pacific, namely India. Biden has repeatedly referred to the relationship with India as the most important one for the US. He reiterated that message in Tokyo. Unlike his message on Taiwan, this was clearly not a gaffe. The IPEF’s launch is a case in point.
From left: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Quad summit. Photo: Getty Images/TNS
From left: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Quad summit. Photo: Getty Images/TNS

The framework may not necessarily bring the US into the Asian trade architecture but it will certainly bring it into the “Indo”-Pacific one.

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