Latest News Live Updates: Joe Biden's Asian economic talks include 13 countries and not China - The Economic Times

President Joe Biden launched his plan for US economic engagement in Asia, leaving it to the 13 founding countries to work out how to enforce their agreements and whether China could ever join.Biden chose on his first trip in office to Asia to formally unveil the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF), although critics said it offered scant benefit to countries in the region even before it was announced.The White House says the deal offers no tariff relief to the countries that join, including India, Malaysia and the Philippines, but provides a way to sort through issues ranging from climate change to supply chain resilience and digital trade.Washington has lacked an economic pillar to its Indo-Pacific engagement since former President Donald Trump quit a multinational trans-Pacific trade agreement, leaving the field open to China to expand its influence.

via Economictimes