U.S. President Joe Biden has pledged to step up engagement in Asia after years of the country ceding influence to China, with moves to donate tens of millions of COVID-19 vaccines and shore up military commitments. But when it comes to the Pacific region’s economy, he’s stuck in neutral.
As Asia-Pacific leaders meet for an annual economic summit this week, the Biden administration is still struggling to articulate its economic vision for the region nearly five years after Donald Trump withdrew from an 11-nation Pacific trade deal. While Biden announced last week that the U.S. was exploring a new Indo-Pacific economic framework, he gave few details on how it would work in practice.
China has sought to take advantage, pushing to join agreements once heralded as vehicles the U.S. could use to set rules for the region.