WASHINGTON: The United States needs to step up its game on economic engagement in Asia, White House Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell said on Thursday that such outreach is the defining element of US policy in the region for the year ahead.
President Joe Biden said in a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace webinar that Campbell said the United States needs to be involved in the framing of economic and commercial engagement and trade practices in the Indo-Pacific as China's influence grows.
Campbell said that the United States needs to step up its game, as the US role must go beyond traditional trade and include digital engagement and technological standard setting.
We need to make clear that we have an open, engaged, optimistic approach to commercial interactions and investment in the Indo Pacific, not only because we're deeply engaged militarily, militarily, strategically, Campbell said.
He said that we understand inside the Biden administration that 2022 will be about engagements comprehensively across the region, and that we don't have specifics.
The US-China relationship has sunk to their lowest point in decades as Biden tried to leverage allies and partners to counter what Washington sees as increasing economic and military coercion by Beijing.