Joe Biden’s failures on trade benefit China

At the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in San Francisco, all eyes were on the meeting between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden. But when it comes to competition between the two great powers in Asia, the most consequential decisions were to be made—or rather not made—behind the scenes.

Trade negotiators had hoped the summit would yield an announcement on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (ipef), America’s offering on trade to 13 regional economies, intended as its main weapon in the battle for economic influence in Asia. Instead, a decision by the Biden administration to halt discussions on digital trade has frozen an important part of an already limited agreement. There will be no announcement on the trade portion of ipef, one of the deal’s four pillars. With American elections now just a year away, further progress will be difficult.