Enterprise for ASEAN Initiative (EAI)

Background: Pursuing Free Trade Globally, Regionally, and Bilaterally

The Enterprise for ASEAN Initiative is integral to America's overall agenda for trade, economic growth, hope, and opportunity. In addition to the Doha Development Agenda of global trade negotiations, the United States is pursuing regional and bilateral trade initiatives that will reinforce our global efforts, including:

• Launching FTA negotiations with Central America and also with Morocco.
  
  
• Exploring an FTA with the South African Customs Union.
  
  
• Preparing for possible FTA negotiations with Australia, one of the world's foremost advocates of free trade and among our closest allies. An FTA with Australia will bring economic benefits to both countries, and further strengthen the alliance of countries leading the effort toward global trade liberalization.

A Roadmap to Free Trade Agreements

• Under the EAI, the United States and individual ASEAN countries will jointly determine if and when they are ready to launch FTA negotiations.
  
  
• The EAI allows ASEAN countries the flexibility to move at their own speed toward an FTA with the United States.
  
  
• The United States would expect a potential FTA partner to be a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and to have concluded a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) with us -- thus laying the groundwork for future FTA negotiations.
  
  
• The United States will continue to support the efforts of the three ASEAN members (Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam) that do not yet belong to the WTO to complete their accessions successfully.
  
  
• The United States has TIFAs with Indonesia and the Philippines--and just signed one with Thailand.
  
  
• FTAs with ASEAN countries will be based on the high standards set in the U.S.-Singapore FTA, which we are aiming to complete this year, for action by Congress next year.

Mutual Benefits

• This initiative will generate significant benefits for both the United States and ASEAN. The ASEAN countries are anticipating solid economic growth in the years ahead and, with ASEAN's population of 500 million, the opportunities for U.S. companies are enormous.
  
  
• Two-way trade reached nearly $120 billion in 2001, making ASEAN the United States' third largest overseas market.
  
  
• U.S.-ASEAN two-way trade in services totaled $16 billion in 2000, up 55 percent since the WTO was established, and holds significant growth potential.
  
  
• With relatively high tariffs on agricultural products (averaging 25 percent to 48 percent) and tariff-rate quotas on products of interest to the United States, current U.S. agricultural exports to ASEAN countries of $2.6 billion could expand significantly.
  
  
• U.S. exports to ASEAN countries support nearly 800,000 high-paying American jobs from Alaska to Florida.
  
  
• For ASEAN, this initiative will help boost trade and redirect investment back to the ASEAN region.