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U.S. Wants TIFA with ASEAN

The U.S. will press for the approval this week of a free-trade pact with Asian countries which would benefit American companies from a bigger East Asian tariff-busting program. U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab will meet with her counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Friday, where she is expected to conclude an agreement. Currently the U.S. has an existing TIFA, or Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, with several major ASEAN economies, which is a first stage for full free trade agreements.

Ben Dolven, senior director at Brooks Bower Asia, a Southeast Asia consultancy firm, said, "It`s early to predict what the next step is but the US-ASEAN TIFA arrangement is a positive opening of possibilities on the trade front. It reflects an understanding on the part of the United States that a great deal is happening at the regional level and that the United States wants to be there."

ASEAN is the fourth largest trading partner of the U.S. with trade between them totaling $150 billion in 2005. Washington has a free trade agreement with Singapore and is negotiating similar deals with Malaysia and Thailand. The U.S. already has TIFA deals in place with Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei and Cambodia.