TOKYO: United States President Joe Biden faced a dilemma on trade in Asia: He couldn't just rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that his predecessor Donald Trump had pulled the US out of in 2017. Many related trade deals, regardless of their content, had become politically toxic for American voters, who associated them with job losses.

So Biden came up with a replacement. During his visit to Tokyo, the US on Monday announced the countries that are joining the new Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. In the tradition of trade deals, it's best known by its initials: IPEF (pronounced eye-pef).