The US needs to “step up its game” on economic engagement in Asia, a senior White House official said on Thursday, adding that would be the defining element of Washington’s policy in the region for the year ahead.
Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell said President Joe Biden had made clear the US needs to be instrumental in the framing of economic and commercial engagement and trade practices in the Asia-Pacific region as China’s influence grows.
“That’s an area where the United States, indeed, needs to step up its game,” Campbell said, adding that its role must go beyond traditional trade and include digital engagement and technological standard setting.
“We’ve got to make clear that not only are we deeply engaged diplomatically, militarily, comprehensively, strategically – that we have an open, engaged, optimistic approach to commercial interactions, investment in the Indo-Pacific,” Campbell said, using Washington’s preferred term for the region.
US-China Relations at the Lowest Point
“I think we well understand inside the Biden administration that 2022 will be about these engagements comprehensively across the region,” he said, without providing specifics.
US-China relations have sunk to their lowest point in decades as Biden has sought to leverage ties with allies and partners to counter what Washington sees as increasing economic and military coercion by Beijing.
His administration has touted its AUKUS pact, under which the US and UK have agreed to help Australia acquire nuclear submarines, as well as leader-level summits with Australia, India and Japan, as evidence that US partnerships are causing China “heartburn”.
But some countries, many of which count China as their largest trading partner, have lamented what they see as a lack of US economic engagement, especially after former President Donald Trump backed away from the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade deal.
- Reuters with additional editing by George Russell
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