Biden’s administration picks top staff for Indo-Pacific Economic Framework

The administration of Bloomberg has chosen top staff to lead negotiations on a long-awaited economic initiative for Asia that it plans to inaugurate during his trip to the region that begins Friday, according to people familiar with the plans.

Markets Wrapped in No Stocks Suffer Steepest Rout in Almost Two Years:

Sharon Yuan, a veteran of the Treasury Department who worked on the abandoned Trans-Pacific Partnership, was hired to oversee staff on the main points of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, or IPEF, according to the people who were given anonymity to discuss the arrangements.

The Commerce Department, which will play a key role in negotiations on the framework, didn't respond immediately to a request for comment on Wednesday.

The U.S. Trade Representative's staff efforts will be led by Dawn Shackleford, the assistant USTR for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, according to the people. Shackleford will work with Deputy USTR Sarah Bianchi, Biden's appointee who is running the agency's effort, according to an official who requested anonymity.

The IPEF is an important part of the Biden administration's efforts to counter China's influence in Asia, following the US withdrawal from talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership regional trade agreement under former President Donald Trump.

Clean energy, supply-chain resilience, decarbonization and infrastructure, and taxation and anti-corruption are the pillars of the framework being led by the Commerce DepartmentCommerce Department. The US Trade Representative's office is responsible for the work on fair and resilient trade. The administration has been working to include digital issues like localization and cross-border flows of data.

Yuan, a lawyer, joins Commerce after spending the past year as president of the Asia Group, a Washington-based strategic advisory firm co-founded by Kurt Campbell, who is now the coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs on the National Security Council. Shackleford previously served as an assistant to the USTR for the World Trade Organization and multilateral affairs.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and USTR Katherine Tai are going to travel with Biden for the official launch of the initiative during his five-day trip to South Korea and Japan.

Cars that are not used often become an expensive problem for online dealers like Carvana.

Restaurants Are More Like Factories because of the tighter labor market.