Commerce Lists Goods & Sectors for IPEF Cooperation

The Commerce Department Friday announced its list of critical sectors and key goods for potential cooperation under the IPEF Supply Chain Agreement to strengthen supply chain resiliency. 

The IPEF Supply Chain Council, one of the three bodies established under the Indo Pacific Economic Framework Supply Chain Agreement, lays the foundation for collaboration on supply chain opportunities and challenges across the Indo-Pacific.

Through the work of the Council, Parties may collaborate to enhance the resilience, sustainability, and diversification of IPEF supply chains and explore opportunities to identify best practices and advance policies, measures, or actions positively impacting trade among the Parties in critical sectors or key goods.

Under the IPEF Supply Chain Agreement, each Party committed to developing a list of “critical sectors” and “key goods” for cooperation under the Agreement, to be shared through the Council. These lists are intended to be iterative and change as needed over time.

The International Trade Administration’s Industry & Analysis unit conducted in-house analyses of supply chains for sectors and goods for potential near-term U.S. opportunities in the Indo-Pacific region, supplemented by public input obtained via a Federal Register Notice (FRN) in June 2024 and interagency consultations.

Ultimately, sectors and goods notified by multiple Parties may be selected as the subject of Action Plans to identify shared vulnerabilities and opportunities to build resilience per Article 10 of the IPEF Supply Chain Agreement.

The U.S. list below is specifically for use in the context of the IPEF Supply Chain Agreement and is not a definitive list of U.S. priorities for the purposes of any other U.S. government supply chain efforts, nor a definitive list of what the IPEF Supply Chain Council will prioritize for discussion and action.

The United States does not anticipate that all of the sectors and goods on this list will be selected for Action Plans, which will be decided by the Council.

U.S. List of Critical Sectors and Key Goods for Potential Cooperation under the IPEF Supply Chain Agreement

Agriculture 

Chemicals 

Consumer Goods 

Critical Minerals and Mining 

Energy/Environmental Industries, including: 

• Advanced batteries, including components and materials 
• Carbon management/capture technologies  
• Electric grid equipment and technologies 
• Forgings and die castings 
• Hydropower, including components and materials 
• Hydrogen, including components and materials, as well as molecular derivatives  
• Permanent magnets 
• Nuclear energy, including components and materials  
• Solar energy systems, including panels, components, and materials  
• Water and wastewater treatment equipment and chemicals 
• Wind turbines, including components and materials 

Health Industries, including:  

• Medical devices 
• Personal protective equipment 
• Pharmaceuticals (particularly Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), generic drugs, and biological products) 
• Vitamins and amino acids 

Information and Communication Technology Products, including: 

• Audiovisual technology (particularly displays) 
• Semiconductors (focused on assembly, testing, and packaging (ATP)) 
• Telecommunication network equipment (particularly switches and routers) 
• Electronics manufacturing services 

Transportation and Logistics, including:  

• Aerospace and aerospace components, including aircraft equipment  
• Automotive parts (particularly electronic components, sensors, engines, transmissions, and electric motors used in vehicles) 
• Cargo handling equipment (particularly cranes) and the movement of shipping containers 
• Heavy/medium duty trucks, including parts and materials 
• Mass transit equipment, including transit buses, motor coaches, and rail passenger cars 
• Rail equipment 
• Shipbuilding and repair (particularly shipbuilding materials, marine engines, propulsion systems, ship components, and repair equipment) 
• Transportation, logistics, and distribution services (particularly cold chain services and IT interoperability standards) 

About IPEF

In May 2022, President Biden launched IPEF, bringing together 14 regional partners – Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, the United States, and Vietnam – in a new model of economic cooperation. IPEF negotiations began in late 2022. In May 2023, the IPEF partners announced the substantial conclusion of the negotiations for a first-of-its-kind IPEF Supply Chain Agreement. In November 2023, the IPEF partners announced the substantial conclusion of the negotiations on the proposed IPEF Clean Economy and Fair Economy Agreements, as well as on a proposed overarching Agreement on IPEF to help ensure the durability of the framework, and held a signing ceremony for the IPEF Supply Chain Agreement, which entered into force on February 24, 2024.