TRADING IN CIRCLES

What’s another way to describe President Joe Biden’s forthcoming Indo-Pacific Economic Framework? Optimists in the administration call it a “multilateral partnership for the 21st century” — and a cornerstone of a strategy to counter China. Skeptics think it’s a pile of crumbs substituting for an actual trade deal.

With leaders from Southeast Asia about to fly into Washington for a postponed U.S.-ASEAN summit starting Thursday, key industry groups and trading partners told POLITICO they’re landing somewhere in the middle. They aren’t buying into the administration’s spin — and instead call the framework a “starting point,” “confidence-building measure” and “baby steps.” Remember: Those are American and allied voices, all of whom have an incentive to be polite in public.

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Lori Wallach, director of the American Economic Liberties Project’s Rethink Trade program, which promotes anti-monopoly measures as well as tough labor and environmental standards, said the framework is a “test run” for future trade agreements that don’t simply exchange market access for better standards.