Asia

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders on Monday called for the acceleration of negotiations over World Trade Organization reform and identified an “urgent need” for members to enhance digital trade cooperation.

New Chinese export controls could be incompatible with the U.S. export control regime, forcing businesses to choose which set of rules to follow, trade lawyers warned last week.

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders next week are expected to deliver a framework for the next 20 years that will feature trade and the digital economy as focal points, as well as COVID-19 recovery strategies, a State Department official said on Thursday.

“The U.S. and Japan now need to think bigger, broader, harder and in greater unison about how to maximize our collective impact on urgent regional and global challenges.”

The incoming Biden administration will bring a much different tone to the U.S.-China relationship but will have to reinstate policy-making processes, recommit to allies and establish clear policy goals before engaging with Beijing on trade issues, analysts said this week.

The Trump administration has handed the incoming Biden team a blueprint for intellectual property protection and enforcement through 2023, if it chooses to follow it, emphasizing enhanced coordination with like-minded countries as well as the inclusion of strong provisions in trade pacts.

Americans for Free Trade says “having a predictable, fair, and transparent product exclusion process is vital to creating a modicum of certainty for American businesses.”

A China Daily editorial says “If there is to be a resetting of relations, the [phase-one] trade deal is clearly the point to start from.”

China is stockpiling a variety of commodities at unprecedented rates because Beijing is working to fill phase-one obligations and because prices are low due to the global recession, according to analysts.