U.S., ASEAN commit to ‘further deepening’ ties

White House officials and ministers from the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations met in California this week with the goal to expand economic ties between the United States and the regional trade bloc.    White House officials and ministers from the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations met in California this week with the goal to “further deepening” economic ties between the United States and the regional trade bloc.
   The meetings in California included the U.S.-ASEAN Leaders Summit and U.S.-ASEAN Trade and Investment Framework Arrangement, as well as an ASEAN “roadshow” in the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday. 
   U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said the discussions with his ASEAN counterparts “highlighted the opportunities to promote jobs through enhanced trade and investment between us.”
   During the meetings, Froman and the ASEAN ministers discussed the recently-concluded Trans-Pacific Partnership and agreed to start a new series of U.S.-ASEAN trade workshops helping ASEAN countries better understand the commitments of trade agreements such as in the TPP. They also discussed the recently announced U.S.-ASEAN Connect, a new initiative for U.S. economic engagement with ASEAN, which will include the formation of three so-called “ASEAN Connect” hubs in Jakarta, Singapore, and Bangkok.
   According to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, two-way goods trade between the United States and ASEAN reached $227 billion in 2015, an increase of 47 percent since 2009. U.S. agricultural exports to ASEAN countries were $10.1 billion in 2015, while U.S. services exports to ASEAN were $22.6 billion in 2014 (latest data available), up 4.1 percent from the previous year. ASEAN consists of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia.