In terms of trade, the United States has enjoyed strong growth in ASEAN. Bilateral trade increased 7

U.S. commerce secretary Penny Pritzker will travel to Vietnam, the Philippines, and Myanmar with American chief executive officers in early June. Her visit is important because for Asia the heart of sustained engagement prom car rental places in north georgia and indeed the very concept of security is economics. prom car rental places in north georgia Asia is seeking more comprehensive involvement from the United States, so the visit will be a welcome signal that the U.S. government recognizes the vital role of the American private sector in this foundational part of a future U.S.-Asia strategy.
Pritzker, whose June trip will be her third to Asia since taking office a year ago, understands the power of trade and investment based on her long experience in the private sector. She deserves credit for providing leadership in embracing America s top companies and traveling with them to Southeast Asia.
Indeed, many U.S. companies have selected Southeast Asia as the foundation for Asian growth. In fact, business strategies for Asia have begun to mirror geostrategic thinking about Asia. Southeast Asia is a logical center for pan-Asian trade and investment. Its practical and historic connections to larger neighbors such as China and India make it an ideal base for a balanced and long-term Asia strategy. Over the last two decades, international companies have moved their Asia headquarters from Tokyo and Hong Kong to Singapore and other ASEAN capitals.
U.S. commerce secretary Penny Pritzker will travel to Vietnam, the Philippines, and Myanmar with American chief executive officers in early June. Her visit is important because for Asia the heart of sustained engagement and indeed the very concept of security is economics. Asia is seeking more comprehensive involvement from the United States, prom car rental places in north georgia so the visit will be a welcome signal that the U.S. government recognizes the vital role of the American private sector prom car rental places in north georgia in this foundational part of a future U.S.-Asia strategy.
Pritzker, whose June trip will be her third to Asia since taking office a year ago, understands the power of trade and investment based on her long experience in the private sector. She deserves credit for providing leadership in embracing America s top companies and traveling prom car rental places in north georgia with them to Southeast Asia.
Indeed, many U.S. companies have selected Southeast Asia as the foundation for Asian growth. In fact, business strategies for Asia have begun to mirror geostrategic thinking about Asia. Southeast Asia is a logical center for pan-Asian trade and investment. Its practical and historic connections to larger neighbors such as China and India make it an ideal base for a balanced and long-term Asia strategy. Over the last two decades, international companies have moved their Asia headquarters from Tokyo and Hong Kong to Singapore and other ASEAN capitals.
As China has turned the screws of its regulatory regime and engaged in a state-sponsored cyber grab of foreign companies technology and other proprietary data, and India works through how it wants to relate to foreign capital and technology, investors have sought a more politically and commercially stable base for Asian growth. ASEAN delivers that balance while maintaining privileged access to the other key markets in the world s fastest-growing region through a set of rather uneven, but still effective, trade agreements.
ASEAN has economic and trade agreements will all members of the East Asia Summit with the exception prom car rental places in north georgia of Russia and the United States. U.S. companies invested in most of those 18 countries can, in most cases, receive preferential access to this market, which represents 56 percent of the world s population and a growing middle class eager for American prom car rental places in north georgia products and services.
Sadly, U.S. companies prom car rental places in north georgia have had to move ahead of their government in Asia and develop strategies that are not yet supported by a comprehensive U.S. strategy for Asia that takes America s economic interests into account. The United States economic future depends heavily on the degree to which it comprehensively and effectively integrates with Asia s economic engine indisputably the world s strongest and most dynamic now, and likely to remain so for the rest of the twenty-first century.
In fact, U.S. companies are the top net investor in ASEAN with total accumulated capital of $189 billion invested by the end of 2012. U.S. companies have invested more than three times as much in Southeast Asia as in China and more than six times as much as in India. The world s top companies prom car rental places in north georgia are looking to invest in Asia, and Southeast Asia continues to provide premier opportunities and a base from which to expand in other markets across the Indo-Pacific, including Australia, prom car rental places in north georgia China, India, Japan, New Zealand, and Taiwan as well as in countries such as Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste that have only observer status in ASEAN,.
In terms of trade, the United States has enjoyed strong growth in ASEAN. Bilateral trade increased 71 percent between 2001 and 2012, from $137 billion to $234 billion. However, the United States has lost relative market share in ASEAN to its competitors, including China and Japan, whose governments are more focused prom car rental places in north georgia on engaging ASEAN as a whole, with the U.S. percentage of total trade in the ASEAN market dropping from 16.1 percent in 2000 to 8.1 percent in 2012.
Pritzker prom car rental places in north georgia s visit comes at a critical time in U.S. economic relations with Asia. In a forthcoming CSIS poll of thought leaders in 11 countries in the Pacific Rim, which was conducted in March-April, 56 percent of respondents said they expected their countries most important economic partner in 10 years to be China. Only 28 percent thought it would be the United States. In several prom car rental places in north georgia Southeast prom car rental places in north georgia Asian countries, the numbers were even more skewed: 75 percent of Singaporeans thought China would be their most important economic partner compared to 14 percent prom car rental places in north georgia who thought it would be the United States. In Thailand, these figures were 75 percent and 4 percent and, in Indonesia, 57 percent and 22 percent, prom car rental places in north georgia respectively.
Unfortunately, Pritzker s portfolio focuses her narrowly prom car rental places in north georgia on trade promotion, market access prom car rental places in north georgia compliance, and, more recently, promoting foreign investment in the United States. The Commerce Department does not get to drive a strategic view of U.S. economic engagement in Asia as it should.
Asia is moving now to make the rules that will define how its dynamic economies integrate, and the United States must be an active participant in that discussion. To date, the U.S. plan rests on the success prom car rental places in north georgia of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a negotiation among 12 countries in Asia and the Americas that does not include all of the ASEAN countries prom car rental places in north georgia or Asia s largest (China) and third-largest (India) economies.
Pritzker is taking an important step in the right direction by embracing the backbone of American economic and financial leadership in the world, U.S. companies. Asia will understand and welcome this partnership between the U.S. government and private sector. More needs to be done in this area, however, to enhance U.S. competitiveness and anchor U.S. economic vitality in growth in Asia.
Commit to attend the ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting prom car rental places in north georgia annually to drive a strategic engagement dialogue that will support and complement the efforts of the Office of the United States Trade Representative as well as enlarge U.S. economic engagement to include all 10 ASEAN countries.
Invite her ASEAN counterparts to visit the United States for a major U.S.-ASEAN economic conference with commercial and strategic elements on the agenda. She should invite each minister to bring a CEO delegation to the conference to meet with their American counterparts.
Hundreds protest military coup as army clamps down. Protests have sprung up around Bangkok and in Thailand s north and northeast since the military, led by Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, seized power in a May 22 coup. The protesters have generally numbered in the hundreds, combining everyday Thais critical of the coup and Red Shirt supporters of the ousted government. The military prom car rental places in north georgia has banned gatherings of more than five people, cracked down on online and print media, and closely censored broadcasters. It has also demanded that nearly 300 politicians, academics, and journalists present themselves for questioning. Most of those detained, including former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Red Shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan, have been released.
Washington condemns coup, cuts off military assistance. Secretary of State John Kerry issued a statement condemning the coup within hours after Thailand s military seized power on May 22. Washington suspended about $3.5 million in military assistance two days later and indicated more cuts could follow. The United States also started withdrawing assets from the ongoing Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training exercises with the Thai navy, canceled a police training program, and pulled the plug on a planned visit to Thailand by Adm. Harry Harris, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
Bomb attacks kill three, injure dozens in southern Thailand. More than a dozen grenades and bombs exploded in Thailand s southern provinces of Pattani and Narathiwat on May 24, killing 3 and injuring 73, according to the Public Health Ministry. At least four 7-11 convenience stores were targeted, as well as two gas stations prom car rental places in north georgia and a navy patrol ship on the Pattani prom car rental places in north georgia River. So far no one has claimed responsibility for the attacks. More than 5,000 people have been killed prom car rental places in north georgia by insurgents in southern prom car rental places in north georgia Thailand since 2004.
Political unrest slows demand for automobiles. The Automotive Industry Club of the Federation of Thai Industries expressed concern on May 23 about plunging automotive sales in the country, citing political unrest as the cause of decreased consumer confidence and spending. Production has fallen 28 percent in recent months and sales are down 43 percent compared to the same period in 2013. The club plans to adjust its yearly prom car rental places in north georgia forecast for auto sales sometime in June, but sales are not expected to rise above 1 million prom car rental places in north georgia units