Editor's Pick: India to join Biden’s new trade initiative for Indo-Pacific region

On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined U.S. President Joseph Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and leaders of 10 countries as part of a new economic initiative led by the U.S. for the Indo-Pacific region. Launching the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) in Tokyo, India will take part in negotiations for the deal from Tuesday over trade, supply chain resiliency, clean energy and decarbonisation, and taxes and anti-corruption measures. Government officials said India will keenly watch the progress of these negotiations as the details of the framework on the four pillars are still to be fleshed out. The new deal includes seven out of 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), all four Quad countries, and New Zealand and represents about 40% of global GDP. Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos — the three ASEAN members close to China — are not part of the IPEF. India had previously walked out of the 15-nation RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) in 2019. U.S. officials made it clear that the IPEF would not be a “free trade agreement”, nor are countries expected to discuss reducing tariffs or increasing market access. In that sense, the IPEF would not seek to replace the 11-nation CPTPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) that the U.S. quit in 2017, or the RCEP, which China, and all of the other IPEF countries (minus the U.S.) are a part of. US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai explained that IPEF would be different from the original Trans-Pacific partnership as the U.S. was “unable to deliver on the plan”, indicating hurdles in the U.S. Congress over trade concessions. Meanwhile, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that the IPEF was intended to boost U.S. manufacturing, aiming to attract businesses investing in China away towards IPEF. One of the IPEF’s roles in the Indo-Pacific, according to documents and a fact sheet released after the launch, will be to set and follow standards for the digital economy and cross-border data flows and data localisation. India strongly differs from U.S. on this as the Data protection Bill mandates data localisation in India. The framework also seeks to counter inflation through more resilient supply chains, promoting more commitments from every member country on clean energy and decarbonisation, and commitments on a “fair economy” though effective tax regimes that tackle money laundering and bribery and corruption, the documents said. The IPEF plan follows a U.S. plan for a “Blue Dot Network” to certify infrastructure projects against a set of criteria and standards that was launched by the U.S., Japan and Australia in 2019. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor‘s Pick and more. Click here The Hindu’s Editorials All hands on deck: On Centre’s duty cut on petro products Grand slam: On ATP and WTA stripping of Wimbledon ranking points The Hindu’s Daily Quiz Which country in Western Asia shares land borders with Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey and Iraq? Kuwait Iran Yemen Oman To find out the answer and play the full quiz, click here [logo] Editor's Pick 24 MAY 2022 [The Hindu logo] In the Editor's Pick newsletter, The Hindu explains why a story was important enough to be carried on the front page of today's edition of our newspaper. [Arrow]( [Open in browser]( [Mail icon]( [More newsletters]( India to join Biden’s new trade initiative for Indo-Pacific region On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined U.S. President Joseph Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and leaders of 10 countries as part of a [new economic initiative]( led by the U.S. for the Indo-Pacific region. Launching the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) in Tokyo, [India will take part in negotiation]( for the deal from Tuesday over trade, supply chain resiliency, clean energy and decarbonisation, and taxes and anti-corruption measures. Government officials said India will keenly watch the progress of these negotiations as the details of the framework on the four pillars are still to be fleshed out. The new deal includes seven out of 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), all four Quad countries, and New Zealand and represents about 40% of global GDP. Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos — the three ASEAN members close to China — are not part of the IPEF. India had previously walked out of the 15-nation RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) in 2019. U.S. officials made it clear that the IPEF would not be a “free trade agreement”, nor are countries expected to discuss reducing tariffs or increasing market access. In that sense, the IPEF would not seek to replace the 11-nation CPTPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) that the U.S. quit in 2017, or the RCEP, which China, and all of the other IPEF countries (minus the U.S.) are a part of. US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai explained that IPEF would be different from the original Trans-Pacific partnership as the U.S. was “unable to deliver on the plan”, indicating hurdles in the U.S. Congress over trade concessions. Meanwhile, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that the IPEF was intended to boost U.S. manufacturing, aiming to attract businesses investing in China away towards IPEF. One of the IPEF’s roles in the Indo-Pacific, according to documents and a fact sheet released after the launch, will be to set and follow standards for the digital economy and cross-border data flows and data localisation. India strongly differs from U.S. on this as the Data protection Bill mandates data localisation in India. The framework also seeks to counter inflation through more resilient supply chains, promoting more commitments from every member country on clean energy and decarbonisation, and commitments on a “fair economy” though effective tax regimes that tackle money laundering and bribery and corruption, the documents said. The IPEF plan follows a U.S. plan for a “Blue Dot Network” to certify infrastructure projects against a set of criteria and standards that was launched by the U.S., Japan and Australia in 2019. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor‘s Pick and more.  [Click here]( The Hindu’s Editorials [Arrow][All hands on deck: On Centre’s duty cut on petro products]( [Arrow][Grand slam: On ATP and WTA stripping of Wimbledon ranking points]( The Hindu’s Daily Quiz Which country in Western Asia shares land borders with Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey and Iraq? - Kuwait - Iran - Yemen - Oman To find out the answer and play the full quiz, [click here]( Today’s Best Reads [[A far more dangerous moment now than in 1992] A far more dangerous moment now than in 1992]( [[A Harvard branch in India, prospects and challenges] A Harvard branch in India, prospects and challenges]( [[Why vaccine mandates are essential] Why vaccine mandates are essential]( [[Meeting family planning goals] Meeting family planning goals]( Copyright @ 2022, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. 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