The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Department of Commerce announced October 4 that a delegation of American representatives will travel to Kuala Lumpur to participate in the sixth negotiating round of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) from October 15 to October 24.

During the negotiations, IPEF partners will continue to work on the outcomes of Pillars I (Trade), III (Clean Economy) and IV (Fair Economy) of the framework.

The U.S. delegation will be co-led by Sharon Yuan, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s counselor and chief negotiator of Pillars II, III, and IV, as well as Sarah Ellerman the assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific and chief negotiator of Pillar I.

The first IPEF negotiating round was held in Brisbane, Australia from December 10 to December 12, 2022. Since then, four other negotiating rounds have taken place between February 2023 and September 2023 in India, Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand. The most recent round of negotiations was held in Bangkok from September 10 to September 16.

President Joe Biden launched the IPEF initiative in 2022 as part of the administration’s Indo-Pacific Strategy. The IPEF acts as a platform that supports sustained economic cooperation between like-minded countries to address the unique financial challenges that have emerged over the last few years.