WASHINGTON, May 26 ― New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said yesterday the United States should return to a regional trade pact it quit in 2017 if it wanted to engage economically with the Indo-Pacific region.
“If the United States is looking to engage in our region economically, then that is the place to do it,” she said of the CPTPP, which the Biden administration has been reluctant to return to given concerns about the impact on US jobs. But speaking after meeting members of the US Congress, Ardern said she had sought to emphasise the need to expand trading opportunities and partnerships in the Indo-Pacific.
“So that is an opportunity and opening for us. We will take that, but we will keep advocating for market access too.” Biden launched IPEF as part of US efforts to push back against China's expanding influence, but it offers none of the tariff relief or expanded market access the region craves.“It's better to be at the table shaping those discussions than not, but we will keep pushing at every step for market access,” she said.
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