Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

US trade agenda key to boosting relations with Asia-Pacific: Kerry

SINGAPORE — America’s trade agenda with Asia-Pacific countries is an important component of President Barack Obama’s vision of strategic pivot towards Asia, said Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday.

Mr Kerry and PM Lee at the Istana yesterday. Photo: Jason Quah

Mr Kerry and PM Lee at the Istana yesterday. Photo: Jason Quah

Follow TODAY on WhatsApp

SINGAPORE — America’s trade agenda with Asia-Pacific countries is an important component of President Barack Obama’s vision of strategic pivot towards Asia, said Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday.

“One of the most important parts of the rebalance is our agenda for shared prosperity in the region — an agenda that begins with trade,” said Mr Kerry during a speech at the Singapore Management University entitled “America and the Asia Pacific: Partners in Prosperity”. Key elements of the United States’ trade agenda in the region include the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), investment promotion, and taking advantage of the opportunities brought about by the clean energy revolution, according to Mr Kerry.

America’s top diplomat, who was on his first official visit to Singapore en route to the 48th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Ministerial Meeting and related meetings in Kuala Lumpur, said he was pleased with the progress of the TPP talks last week in Hawaii as negotiating parties attempted to work through the sensitive issues.

Stressing the importance of the TPP to regional growth and prosperity, Mr Kerry said “no country can expect its economy to grow simply by buying and selling to its own people”. “Trade is a job creator and prosperity builder. Period. But the TPP is about more than creating economic opportunities — it is also about raising standards.”

The trade pact, if concluded, will mean that all parties have to comply with international labour and environmental standards, refrain from using underage workers, and ensure that state-owned firms compete fairly with private owned companies, among others. “The US will continue to work with our partners to promote a stable, rules-based order in the Asia Pacific, and the TPP will spur momentum,” he said.

The TPP initiative, stretching Chile and Canada to Japan and Singapore, will cover about 40 per cent of global output. While it was hoped that a ministerial meeting in Hawaii last week would seal the agreement, consensus could not be reached. A meeting will be convened at the end of this month for negotiating parties to try again to reach an agreement.

Another critical component of American economic diplomacy in the region is investment promotion, said Mr Kerry. He noted that American businesses have been major investors in ASEAN. “In fact, US foreign direct investment stock in the region is larger than Chinese, Japanese and Korean investments combined,” he said.

“And ASEAN countries are now returning the favour. Between 2001 and 2012, the growth in ASEAN investments in the US exceeded that from all other regions of the world.”

Mr Kerry said American companies are committed to high-quality and responsible investments in the region. “The ultimate measure of our success will be determined not by whether we have enabled economies to grow, but by how sustainable and inclusive that growth turns out to be.”

Another area the US sees as being important for shared prosperity is on how to capitalise on the opportunities brought about by the clean-energy revolution. Mr Kerry said that while climate change is a danger to humankind, it is also an opportunity to make the right choices about conservation, tap renewable sources of energy and set ambitious targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Countries representing 60 per cent of all global greenhouse gas emissions — including major emitters such as the US and China as well as other smaller countries like Singapore — have announced their post-2020 emission reductions target ahead of a key climate change conference in Paris in December to negotiate a new global deal to address the problem.

“I am absolutely confident that we can summon the resolve to reach the right kind of agreement in Paris. And we can carve out a path towards a clean-energy future,” said Mr Kerry.

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.