Biden promises a better economic relationship with Asia, but he's specifically avoiding a trade deal

abcnews.go.com:

President Joe Biden is nurturing economic ties this week with Asia

WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is nurturing economic ties this week with Asia, but he's not signing any trade deals at a regional summit in San Francisco.

This fact — no trade deals — reveals a lot about the status of U.S. politics, the evolving global economy and the Biden administration's own ambitions. U.S. negotiators say they're progressing on finalizing agreements with 13 other countries on parts of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. The operative word is “framework" as that label allows Biden to bypass Congress in reaching agreements in IPEF (pronounced EYE-pef).

“It's a framework because the administration wanted to have something it could do by executive agreement,” said Robert Holleyman, a former deputy U.S. trade representative.

Many U.S. voters have negative opinions about trade deals that they see as having caused industrial job loss, a prevailing sentiment in the 2016 presidential election that carries over to the upcoming 2024 race. IPEF can partially fill that gap by sidestepping some of the domestic politics while also addressing issues such as supply chains and climate change that have historically been outside trade deals. Here's a breakdown of the framework and the progress being announced at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' meeting.

Biden formally announced IPEF during a May 2022 trip to Tokyo. It has four major pillars: supply chains, climate, anti-corruption and trade.

“We’re writing the new rules for the 21st century economy,” Biden said when the initiative was unveiled. But unlike a traditional trade deal, the framework is not about expanding market access or laying out penalties for unfair