Asia trade talk stumble ‘another setback for US’

NEW YORK

The United States stumbled again in trade negotiations with Asia-Pacific partners this week, a setback analysts say could weigh on America's standing as a partner in the face of China's growing influence.

While Washington had for decades used free-trade pacts to forge relationships around the world, a more isolationist mood has gripped domestic politics.

The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) failed to materialize at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, held back by U.S. fears over the impact on workers at home.

Pushback from President Joe Biden's own party underscores the challenges, with congressional Democrats concerned it could impact their prospects in next year's elections.

A failure to deliver IPEF could look like a replay of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which former president Donald Trump denounced as bad for U.S. jobs.

One of his first actions in office was to yank the U.S. out of the TPP, a huge multi-national deal yoking major Asian allies that had been years in the making, and which had been a key plank of foreign policy.

That withdrawal smarted in Asian capitals.

The White House insists IPEF is not dead, but needs more work to get it over the line.

"November was never about a trade deal," U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai told reporters on Nov. 16.

"November was always about providing more details and transparency into the progress that we were accomplishing," she added.

Further details have yet to be released, but Tai stressed "we will continue to work on this."

Analysts say Washington is skating on thin ice.

"To see the United States fail to deliver on trade negotiations in the Indo-Pacific again would further damage U.S. credibility as a trade partner in the future," said Thibault Denamiel of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Into that breach steps China, whose lavish spending on infrastructure projects around the world - under its Belt and Road Initiative - have won it friends and favor in many places.

Beijing has also forged its own Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership with 14 other Pacific-rim countries, all resulting in "an imbalance in economic engagement" in favor of Beijing, said Denamiel.

IPEF could help rebalance that, he told AFP.

While the framework falls short of a traditional multinational deal - it doesn't include market access - participants hope it would lead to greater U.S. engagement, analysts say.