Sec. 124. Sense of Congress on the need to bolster American leadership in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
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/bill/117/hr/3524/rh/section-124·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
It is the sense of Congress that— the United States has benefitted from the regional economic integration agenda of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC)forum since its inception in 1989; APEC is a hub of trade and commerce for 21 member economies that, as of 2018, accounted for 60 percent of global GDP and 48 percent of global trade; APEC has contributed to the reduction in trade barriers, harmonization of regulations, and enhanced access to global value chains, while raising the profile of critical topics such as fair trade, sustainability, gender parity, and inclusive growth; it is in the United States interest to engage and lead at APEC to push for an open and inclusive regional economy that benefits United States workers, consumers, and businesses and better integrates the United States economy with others in the region; when the United States last hosted APEC in 2011, it was able to promote United States interests, while reassuring allies and partners about its strong commitment to the region in the economic arena; today, APEC can again be used as a forum to make progress on several United States priorities, that are shared by United States allies and partners, including— making regional commerce more inclusive; fostering innovation and digitization; and addressing climate change and environmental protection; hosting APEC would provide a tremendous opportunity to leverage American leadership to shape the regional economic agenda; hosting APEC would allow the United States to advance several of its own priorities in the region, including to— expand the participation of APEC stakeholders to include labor groups, environmental advocates, and other part of civil society; upgrade APEC’s work to empower and promote small and medium enterprises; spotlight best practices and plans to upgrade skills for the next-generation of technology jobs; advance a climate and sustainable trade and development agenda with a focus on green technologies, infrastructure and finance; and advance work on digital trade, including by expanding rules on data privacy, promoting digital inclusiveness and promoting the free flow of data; and with no host confirmed for 2023, the United States should immediately announce its interest to host APEC in 2023 and work with the APEC Secretariat and like-minded APEC members to build support.