Biden will likely have to reimagine the future of U.S. economic leadership in Asia - expert

CNBC reports that according to a former foreign policy advisor the Biden administration will likely have to reimagine the future of U.S. economic leadership in Asia-Pacific following two massive free trade agreements signed by countries in the region.

The first of the two trade agreements is the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): It was negotiated by the Obama administration but never approved by Congress. President Donald Trump subsequently pulled the U.S. out of the TPP in 2017.

More recently, 15 countries including China, Australia, Japan, South Korea as well as Southeast Asian nations, signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

“So far, the incoming administration has not committed one way or the other to the future of the TPP,” Richard Fontaine, CEO of the Center for a New American Security, told. 

He explained that President-elect Joe Biden and his administration will enter an era where the U.S. is party to neither the TPP nor the RCEP. “They are going to have to at least consider what the future of U.S. economic leadership in Asia looks like,” he said.