More than five years after the Trump administration made headlines by yanking the United States out of an ambitious proposal for a high-standard trade pact, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), President Joe Biden has launched a new platform to engage the region. The charms of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) are perhaps not obvious at first glance. It is not a traditional trade pact and does not reduce tariffs or grant better access to the American market. Those features would have been a clear draw for many Asian nations which are comparing how the new deal stacks up against other trade agreements such as the TPP's successor, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership minted over the past few years.

The framework unveiled during Mr Biden's first presidential trip to Asia last week is a proposition that aims to write the rules of the road for the global economy for decades to come. It provides for participation of members in "pillars" that include setting standards on trade in digital goods and services, obtaining commitments to ease bottlenecks in critical supply chains and enabling the transition to clean energy. It was jointly launched by the US and a dozen nations including Quad members Japan, Australia and India, as well as Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and New Zealand. Within a month, the prospective members will begin to identify the pillars they would like to join.