The United States’ planned Indo-Pacific economic framework will be inclusive and flexible, and will not be structured like a typical free trade deal, its commerce secretary Gina Raimondo said on Thursday.
In a teleconference call during a visit to Malaysia, Raimondo said discussions on the framework are in preliminary stages, but could involve several key areas including the digital economy, supply chain resiliency, infrastructure, export control, and clean energy.
“We absolutely do not envision this to be a traditional trade agreement,” she said, adding that the U.S. will develop the framework with allies in the months to come.
A Commerce Department spokesperson said in an email to Reuters on Friday that no formal proposals have been put together about what the framework would include or what its precise legal structure could be.
“We do expect it would be developed in close consultation and through robust engagement with a number of stakeholders, especially Congress, as we continue to define our goals and desired outcomes for the framework,” the spokesperson said.
On Wednesday, Raimondo said an Indo-Pacific economic framework could be launched at the start of next year, and her Asia visit was to lay the groundwork for potential partnerships.
Earlier on Thursday, the U.S. and Malaysia said in a joint statement that both countries plan to sign an agreement by early 2022 towards improving transparency, resilience and security in the semiconductor and manufacturing sector supply chains.
The agreement comes as Malaysia seeks to tackle a shortage in semiconductor chips after supplies were disrupted due to curbs imposed to stem a surge in COVID-19 cases this year.
Malaysia’s chip assembly industry, accounting for more than a tenth of a global trade worth over $20 billion, has warned that shortages will last at least two years.
Raimondo said both governments had a broad ranging discussion with the semiconductor industry on Thursday, including to cut out redundancy in investments and to boost supplies.
(This story has corrected to remove quote saying agreement not envisioned to require Congress’ involvement, adds spokesperson’s comment)
(Reporting by Liz Lee and Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Martin Petty and John Geddie)
OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below its promised $40 billion cap in the last fiscal year.
However the PBO also projects in its latest economic and fiscal outlook today that weak economic growth this year will begin to rebound in 2025.
The budget watchdog estimates in its report that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged a year ago to keep the deficit capped at $40 billion and in her spring budget said the deficit for 2023-24 stayed in line with that promise.
The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.
The PBO says economic growth will remain tepid this year but will rebound in 2025 as the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts stimulate spending and business investment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the level of food insecurity increased in 2022 as inflation hit peak levels.
In a report using data from the Canadian community health survey, the agency says 15.6 per cent of households experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022 after being relatively stable from 2017 to 2021.
The reading was up from 9.6 per cent in 2017 and 11.6 per cent in 2018.
Statistics Canada says the prevalence of household food insecurity was slightly lower and stable during the pandemic years as it fell to 8.5 per cent in the fall of 2020 and 9.1 per cent in 2021.
In addition to an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, the agency says there was an increase in the severity as more households reported moderate or severe food insecurity.
It also noted an increase in the number of Canadians living in moderately or severely food insecure households was also seen in the Canadian income survey data collected in the first half of 2023.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 16, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales in August fell to their lowest level since January 2022 as sales in the primary metal and petroleum and coal product subsectors fell.
The agency says manufacturing sales fell 1.3 per cent to $69.4 billion in August, after rising 1.1 per cent in July.
The drop came as sales in the primary metal subsector dropped 6.4 per cent to $5.3 billion in August, on lower prices and lower volumes.
Sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector fell 3.7 per cent to $7.8 billion in August on lower prices.
Meanwhile, sales of aerospace products and parts rose 7.3 per cent to $2.7 billion in August and wood product sales increased 3.8 per cent to $3.1 billion.
Overall manufacturing sales in constant dollars fell 0.8 per cent in August.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
