US President Joe Biden at Akasaka Palace, Monday, May 23, 2022, in Tokyo.
President Joe Biden has said that he does not believe an economic recession is inevitable in the US. Biden, speaking at a news conference after holding talks with Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, acknowledged the US economy has “problems” but said they were "less consequential than the rest of the world has.”
The President promised “concrete benefits” would emerge from the new Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) as he warned Americans worried about high inflation that it was “going to be a haul” before they feel relief.
This is going to be a haul. This is going to take some time," he said even as he rejected the idea a recession in the US was inevitable.
The comments came just before Biden's planned launch of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), a new trade deal his administration designed to signal US dedication to the contested economic sphere and to address the need for stability in commerce after disruptions caused by the pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
US, India, 11 countries join IPEF
The President later announced 12 countries have joined the new trade pact that the White House said will help the United States work more closely with Asian economies on issues including supply chains, digital trade, clean energy and anticorruption efforts.
The signatories joining the US in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework are Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Along with the United States, they represent 40% of world GDP.
The countries said in a joint statement that the pact will help them collectively 'prepare our economies for the future' following disruptions from the coronavirus pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Critics say the framework has gaping shortcomings. It doesn't offer incentives to prospective partners by lowering tariffs or provide signatories with greater access to U.S. markets. Those limitations may not make the U.S. framework an attractive alternative to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which still moved forward after the U.S. bailed out.
READ MORE: What’s in Biden’s new Indo-Pacific Economic Framework - Explained
With AP Inputs
