[CTC] Ahead of Harris trip, Chamber calls for digital standard talks

Fri Aug 20 06:59:59 PDT 2021

Eyes on Asia: Ahead of Harris trip, Chamber calls for digital standard talks 
8/19/2021, Inside US Trade

Vice President Kamala Harris should use an upcoming trip to Southeast Asia to begin discussions on digital economy standards and to deepen trade relations with Vietnam, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Southeast Asia Executive Director John Goyer said on Wednesday.

Harris will take her second foreign trip as vice president to Singapore and Vietnam at the end of the month to “strengthen relationships and expand economic cooperation with two critical Indo-Pacific partners,” the White House announced <https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/07/30/statement-from-senior-advisor-and-chief-spokesperson-symone-sanders-on-vice-president-kamala-harriss-upcoming-visit-to-singapore-and-vietnam/> last month.

Harris should begin talks on digital economy standards as a “starting point” during her first visit to Singapore, which is “an excellent place to begin the discussion,” Goyer said in an essay <https://www.uschamber.com/series/above-the-fold/vp-s-visit-southeast-asia-affirms-need-enhance-us-trade-ties>. Singapore has a digital economy agreement with Australia and in recent months has launched talks with the United Kingdom on a separate digital trade deal.

The U.S., Goyer said, has “taken the lead” in establishing digital economy standards in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement as well as in the U.S.-Japan Digital Economy Agreement. USMCA contains a chapter on digital trade, while the Trump administration in 2019 struck a limited trade deal with Japan along with a separate digital accord designed to prohibit data localization requirements and to ensure barrier-free cross-border data transfers, among other issues.

The U.S. “should seek to extend the reach of those standards in Southeast Asia,” Goyer said. “Doing so will help us push back against the digital protectionism and fragmentation that reflects the influence of our competitors in the region.”

The White House in recent months has been mulling talks on a digital trade deal <https://insidetrade.com/node/171819> in the Indo-Pacific as a way to counter China. Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Dan Tehan said this month <https://insidetrade.com/node/171910> that prime candidates for such a deal included Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Canada, New Zealand, Chile and Australia. Tehan also said Australia’s digital economy agreement with Singapore could serve as a blueprint.

Countries in the Asia-Pacific region belong to “a web of trade agreements” that provide preferential market access for their members, Goyer noted. Almost a dozen countries have signed onto the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, for one, while others, including China, have been eyeing membership.

Several lawmakers in recent months have called on the Biden administration to join CPTPP after the Trump administration withdrew the U.S. from its predecessor in 2017. But the Biden administration has said the U.S. would not join CPTPP unless it were reformed. More than a dozen Asia-Pacific countries, including China, also signed onto the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership in 2020.

The U.S.’ lack of involvement in these trade agreements – which include “Chinese and European competitors” – put American companies and workers at a disadvantage, Goyer contended.

“There is no better way to better establish the United States as a trusted regional partner than by enhancing our economic engagement in the region,” he wrote.

Harris also should use her visit to Vietnam as a chance to enhance the two sides’ Trade and Investment Framework, Goyer said. The Chamber, he noted, welcomed the administration’s decision not to impose tariffs on goods from Vietnam in response to a Section 301 currency investigation. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in July announced <https://insidetrade.com/node/171841> it would not impose duties following the probe, launched last year by the Trump administration, in lieu of a currency agreement between the Treasury Department and the Vietnamese State Bank that USTR will continue to monitor for compliance.

An upgraded TIFA would be a “strong follow-up" to that decision and provide “a way to address the myriad regulatory and market access issues that are increasingly large irritants in the commercial relationship,” Goyer said. The two sides held their last TIFA meeting <https://insidetrade.com/node/158159> in 2017.

The administration also should use the trip to announce the U.S.’ intention to host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in 2023, Goyer contended. APEC senior officials are meeting for the third time this and next month to discuss regional recovery. The forum – hosted virtually by New Zealand this year – has been “supported by Democratic and Republican administrations alike” and has provided an opportunity for countries to address economic challenges and come together on a host of global issues, Goyer said. The U.S., the Chamber has argued, has an opportunity to assert U.S. economic leadership in the Indo-Pacific by committing to host APEC in 2023.

U.S. partners in Asia have been “signaling for years” that an Indo-Pacific strategy without an “inclusive, expansive economic platform” is “dead in the water,” Goyer said.

“U.S. security and strategic engagement in Southeast Asia and the broader Indo-Pacific region cannot happen without a strong economic foundation - a foundation that’s been weakened in recent years,” he wrote. “The Vice President’s trip is a rare opportunity for the United States to strengthen ties and reassert its economic and commercial leadership in the region.”

Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826

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