The United States congratulates Thailand on hosting a successful APEC year in spite of ongoing economic challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's war against Ukraine. Throughout 2022, the United States worked with APEC economies to strengthen supply chain resilience and trade facilitation, build a more open digital economy, level the playing field and open markets in the region, advance women's economic empowerment, and promote sustainable economic growth. Vice President Harris's participation at the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting underscored the U.S. commitment to economic cooperation in the region. She previewed U.S. goals for our APEC host year in 2023 and announced San Francisco as the site of the 2023 APEC Economic Leaders' Week . Leaders endorsed a consensus declaration as well as the Bangkok Goals on Bio-Circular-Green Economy and committed to achieving APEC economies' ambitious sustainability and inclusion objectives. Secretary Blinken and U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Tai joined their counterparts in issuing a consensus joint ministerial statement . We look forward to continuing to advance many of these priorities during the United States' 2023 APEC host year.
WHY WE ENGAGE IN APEC
Through APEC, the United States seeks to advance a free, fair, and open economic policy agenda that benefits U.S. workers, businesses, and families. The 21 APEC member economies account for 38 percent of the global population, or 2.9 billion people, and approximately 47 percent of global trade. As of 2021, fellow APEC members were the destination for more than 60 percent of U.S. goods exports, and seven of the top 10 overall trading partners for the United States are APEC members.
As part of our enduring commitment to the region and broad-based economic growth, the United States is excited to serve as APEC host in 2023. Hosting APEC in 2023 will provide the United States with a unique opportunity to showcase U.S. economic leadership and multilateralism in the Indo-Pacific and highlight the direct impact of international economic engagement on prosperity here in the United States. Under the theme "Creating a Resilient and Sustainable Future for All," we plan to build a more interconnected, innovative, and inclusive APEC region.
Through our APEC 2023 host year, we will seek to further U.S. economic engagement with the region. Regular exchanges among governments, business leaders - including through the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) - and other stakeholders are critical to ensuring that APEC is delivering pragmatic solutions to the key challenges facing U.S. workers and businesses, both at home and in the region.
MAKING TRADE IN THE REGION FREE, FAIR, AND OPEN
The United States is committed to working with APEC economies to make trade a force for good that encourages a race to the top and delivers economic prosperity for our workers and all our people. U.S. priorities in APEC include making resiliency, sustainability, and inclusivity core values in trade policy choices; advancing the needs of U.S. workers, consumers, and businesses; and preparing other economies for participation in high-standard trade agreements. The United States works in APEC to advance the Administration's trade agenda by:
- Advancing economic inclusion by fostering enhanced multi-stakeholder engagement and bringing a wide variety of voices to the table when developing trade agreements;
- Supporting robust public-private dialogues with key trade and digital policymakers to discuss the changing digital trade environment in the region;
- Strengthening regional supply chains by promoting a resilient regional logistics sector, with a particular focus on facilitating the movement of essential goods;
- Increasing services competitiveness, including by hosting a workshop on implementation of WTO rules to improve the transparency and fairness of licensing processes;
- Sharing best practices on U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Green Trade Strategy at the APEC Customs Business Dialogue in Thailand;
- Advancing conversations on the importance of tripartism, the principle of social dialogue and cooperation between governments, employers, and workers, in economic policy decisions, including on a just transition;
- Pursuing technical coordination to support convergent standards and regulatory approaches in the region for electric vehicles and other new vehicle technologies, by creating a report, database, and hosting a workshop on new technologies and regulatory frameworks and standards.
SUPPORTING U.S. INNOVATION AND THE DIGITAL ECONOMY
COVID-19 has underscored the importance of the digital economy in driving economic growth, creating new jobs, and cultivating new markets and new industries in all APEC economies. A more open, interoperable, and secure Internet will benefit the U.S. economy, where the digital economy accounts for an estimated 10 percent of GDP. This year, United States promoted new, innovative digital technologies to respond to - and recover from - COVID-19 by:
- Fostering an enabling environment for the digital economy by leading and advancing public-private dialogues on digital trade, including enabling cross-border data flows and emerging technologies;
- Recognizing early-career scientists and regional collaboration through the annual APEC Science Prize for Innovation, Research, and Education (ASPIRE);
- Spotlighting approaches to facilitate access to open government data - through hosting a workshop focusing on emerging policies and regulatory frameworks on open government data measures in the APEC region; and
- Establishing the Global Cross-Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) Forum to create an international data privacy certification system based on the APEC CBPR System.
HELPING U.S. COMPANIES DO BUSINESS
We work in APEC to improve implementation of economic policies, business regulation, and fair competition to level the playing field and open markets for U.S. companies. We also work with economies to implement good regulatory practices, break down barriers to business, and institute anti-corruption measures. Our work in APEC makes it easier for U.S. companies to do business in the region by:
- Strengthening ethical business practices in the region through the APEC Business Ethics for SMEs Initiative by setting best practices and building capacity for the expansion of consensus frameworks for ethical collaboration in the health sector;
- Advancing supply chain resiliency and addressing emerging supply chain challenges through the APEC Alliance for Supply Chain Connectivity (A2C2);
- Supporting open and competitive trade in professional services, including by sharing U.S. best practices related to credentialing and recognition;
- Strengthening copyright protection for U.S. creators in foreign markets by leading discussion on effective practices for enforcement against illegal streaming; and
- Facilitating the trade of agricultural products produced using biotechnology and fostering engagement and dialogue for the adoption and use of transparent, predictable, and science-based policy and regulatory frameworks.
EXPANDING WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN THE ECONOMY
One of our top priorities for APEC remains advancing women's economic empowerment across the region. Greater economic participation and leadership from women, especially in the region's post-pandemic economic recovery, will spur GDP growth and foster stability. Through APEC, we work to expand economic opportunities for women by:
- Promotingwomen's access to digital tools so they can grow their businesses by reaching international customers through cross-border e-commerce;
- Bridging the gap in unpaid care, as aligned with theLa Serena Roadmap for Women and Inclusive Growth, to identify policies to assist unpaid caregivers;
- Supporting women's participation in the labor force, promoting women's entrepreneurship and health,and increasing representation in leadership positions and STEM;
- Launchingthe Gender and Structural Reform Economic Impact Assessment to advance stronger legal environments to support women's economic participation;
- Partnering with Vietnam to help economies identify gaps in supporting women's engagement in e-commerce and highlight potential areas of improvement for future capacity building support; and
- Promoting sustainable economic advancement for women by addressing policy barriers to prevention, control, and elimination of HPV and cervical cancer.
PROMOTING HEALTHY, RESILIENT, AND SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIES
The United States works with partners in APEC to address external factors that affect economic participation, such as social protection, health, and environmental issues. Working to maintain healthy populations, build resilience, and promote the sustainable use of environmental resources are all necessary to maintain long-term economic growth. We work in APEC to mitigate the economic impacts of health and environmental challenges by:
- Health and Resilience
- ImprovingAPEC members' understanding of policies and practices that strengthen the telehealth services environment and promoting best practices in health technologies across APEC to bolster the COVID-19 recovery, advance equitable healthcare access, and restore cross-border travel in APEC;
- Promoting strategies and public policies to support the reduction of food loss and waste through an APEC-endorsed report .
- Improving traceback and food safety management by strengthening the understanding of whole genome sequencing data analysis and food safety testing;
- Improvinginformation sharing and understanding on the foundations of risk communication and the application of the APEC Food Safety Risk Communication Framework to pesticide maximum residue limits (mrls); and
- Endorsing the Implementation Plan of the Food Security Roadmap Towards 2030, to advance progress in the region on achieving lasting food security, improved nutrition, and food safety.
- Sustainability
- Sharing and promoting best practices in coastal resilience to support the protection and conservation of the Asia-Pacific marine environment;
- Implementing the Roadmap on Combatting Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing, and the Roadmap on Marine Debris, including by providing support to the APEC Marine Debris Management and Innovation Sub-Fund; Fostering greater understanding of emerging regulatory measures, policies, and requirements for the harvest, processing, and trade in legal timber, and enforcement mechanisms to combat illegal logging and associated trade;
- Strengthening the policy environment relatedto the use of compostable bioplastics, providing more clarity for labeling and composability standards;
- Furthering a Just Energy Transition bysharing experiences and providing APEC members the opportunity to develop strategies for accelerating their energy transitions while supporting the needs of communities and populations most impacted by this transition; and
- Developing a modern Energy Security Initiative to strengthen energy security and provide access to affordable, reliable, resilient, and sustainable energy.
