NOVEMBER 16, 2023 FACT SHEET: In San Francisco, President Biden and 13 Partners Announce Key Outcomes to Fuel Inclusive, Sustainable Growth as Part of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity

 NOVEMBER 16, 2023

FACT SHEET: In San Francisco, President Biden and 13 Partners Announce Key Outcomes to Fuel Inclusive, Sustainable Growth as Part of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity

Today, President Biden announced key outcomes of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) that will create a stronger, fairer, more resilient economy for families, workers, and businesses in the United States and in the Indo-Pacific region. The United States is an Indo-Pacific economic power, and expanding U.S. economic leadership in the region is good for American workers and businesses and for the people of the region. 

IPEF partners Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam represent 40 percent of the world’s GDP and are committed to advancing workers’ rights, facilitating high-standard trade and investment, and tackling pressing issues facing our countries, in particular: vulnerable supply chains; clean energy transitions; and corruption.  In record time, the United States and our IPEF partners have negotiated first-of-their-kind agreements to help achieve these goals:

The IPEF Supply Chain Agreement will help partners promote diversification and resiliency in their supply chains, better identify supply chain vulnerabilities, establish an emergency communications channel to respond to disruptions arising from crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and promote high labor standards that respect workers across regional supply chains.

The Clean Economy Agreement will help catalyze the economic opportunities arising from IPEF partners’ transitions to cleaner economies and, through cooperative work programs and the mobilization of public and private financing, will drive inclusive investment in the region and greater collaboration with the private sector. 

   

The Fair Economy Agreement will enhance IPEF partners’ efforts to prevent and combat corruption, including bribery, and support efforts to improve tax transparency and tax administration, which will strengthen the investment climate in the region and ensure the benefits of economic growth are broadly shared.

Each of the agreements includes novel provisions to protect labor rights, empower workers, and promote a race to the top as we seek to enhance our economic competitiveness.  These provisions include an innovative tri-partite Labor Rights Advisory Board to promote labor rights in supply chains and a reporting mechanism to identify facility-specific labor rights inconsistency issues in the IPEF Supply Chain Agreement; commitments to advance a just transition for workers in the IPEF Clean Economy Agreement; and strong labor commitments to combat corruption in labor law enforcement and to help prevent the exploitation of migrant workers, a particularly vulnerable group, in the IPEF Fair Economy Agreement.

In addition to concluding these groundbreaking agreements, IPEF partners have made progress on and are committed to continuing negotiations to facilitate trade, advance workers’ rights through strong and enforceable labor standards, strengthen environmental protections, align our regulatory procedures, promote a fair and inclusive digital economy, deepen our technical assistance and economic cooperation, and advance inclusivity in our trade policy. 

The IPEF partners also agreed to establish the Agreement on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity, which will establish a ministerial-level IPEF Council in support of the durability of IPEF and the IPEF agreements.

The United States and our IPEF partners announced additional initiatives that will establish IPEF as a dynamic forum committed to tackling emerging, important issues in the future.

The United States announced the novel IPEF Investment Accelerator – which is based off of the U.S. Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI) and includes a new IPEF Project Preparation Facility run by the U.S. Trade and Development Agency – will strengthen the investment climate and promote high-standard investment outcomes that benefit workers and protect the environment in our IPEF partner economies. 

The IPEF Critical Minerals Dialogue will support U.S. expansion and development of our full critical mineral supply chain – from mining to processing – through efforts to strengthen the competitiveness and diversification of IPEF critical mineral supply chains.

The IPEF Networks initiative will expand people-to-people ties, promote small business-to-small business matchmaking, facilitate connections among entrepreneurs, expand connectivity among civil society groups, and facilitate scientific, academic, and other research collaboration to help ensure the benefits of IPEF reach all segments of society and to increase diverse stakeholder participation in the advancement of IPEF’s initiatives going forward.

Announced by President Biden while in Tokyo in May of 2022, the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity establishes high-standard commitments to create a stronger, fairer, more resilient economy for families, workers, and businesses in the United States and in the Indo-Pacific region. IPEF enables the United States and our partners to decide on rules of the road to deepen our economic engagement in the region and benefit American workers and businesses — as well as the people of the region. 

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