The United States said Monday it will host a ministerial meeting next week in San Francisco with its trading partners in the Indo-Pacific region.
The two-day meeting on the U.S.-led trade initiative, officially called the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, will begin Monday, with representatives from the other 13 members, including Australia, India, Japan, Indonesia and Thailand. Collectively, the group accounts for about 40 percent of the global economy.
The 14 members are seeking to make tangible progress on the IPEF initiative during this year's leaders' meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in the U.S. West Coast city.
China, the world's second-largest economy, is not part of the initiative launched in May last year by U.S. President Joe Biden. The IPEF members have focused on crafting rules on four pillars -- fair trade, supply chain resilience, clean energy with decarbonization and infrastructure, and proper taxation along with anti-corruption efforts.
The IPEF is aimed at bolstering U.S. economic competitiveness and is viewed as a means to counter China's rise in the region.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a statement that she looks forward to hosting the meeting with Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo to "deliver on the promise of lifting up our economies and the middle class here in the United States and the Indo-Pacific region."
The upcoming ministerial meeting is the framework's third to be held in an in-person format.
