SMILING LEADER United States President Joe Biden speaks during a reception for Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not in photo) in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. on Monday, May 16, 2022 (May 17 in Manila). AFP PHOTO
NEW YORK CITY: The administration of United States President Joe Biden used last week's US-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Special Summit to talk up his forthcoming Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), which tries to make up for Washington's new unwillingness to negotiate the kind of market-opening trade deals Asian leaders like, according to a Foreign Policy report.