In recent years, the U.S. has embraced ‘friendshoring’ of supply chains to trusted countries in the Indo-Pacific. This policy is part of broader U.S. efforts to reduce dependence on China, and strengthen the resilience of its supply chains to global shocks. While the U.S. has pushed forward initiatives like the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and the Minerals Security Partnership, challenges with U.S. friendshoring policy have also arisen.

As the new U.S. Administration considers its approach to economic security, Asia Society Policy Institute will be releasing a new paper on March 3, 2025 examining the implementation of U.S. friendshoring policy in the Indo-Pacific and recommending enhancements.

Alongside the release of this paper, we invite you to join a virtual panel discussion with experts from the Indo-Pacific and the U.S. to explore the impact of U.S. friendshoring policy. The discussion will include analysis of the tensions in the policy, the lessons that have been learned to date, as well as how it can be further enhanced to ensure that U.S. businesses and workers can benefit from more secure supply chains and contribute to increased economic prosperity.

The panel discussion will feature: 

• Iman Pambagyo, former Chief Trade Negotiator for Indonesia
• Jayant Menon, Senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) -Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore
• Yasuyuki Todo, Professor at the Graduate School of Economics at Waseda University
• Wendy Cutler, Vice President of Asia Society Policy Institute
• Jane Mellsop (Moderator), ASPI Director of Trade, Investment, and Economic Security

SPEAKERS

Iman Pambagyo, former Chief Trade Negotiator for Indonesia, has held key government positions such as Director-General for International Trade Negotiations and Ambassador in-Charge of WTO. As the chairman of the RCEP Trade Negotiating Committee, he played a critical role in the realization of the worlds’ largest free trade agreement, and his expertise is also evident in his experience as the Chief Negotiator for various ASEAN, ASEAN+1, ASEAN+3, and ASEAN+6 FTAs, as well as the chair of the WTO-G33 negotiations on Agriculture. After leaving the government in 2021, Pambagyo transitioned to the private sector, joining B-Universe Media Holding as a member of Board of Editors, Bahar Consulting as a Trade Advisory Principal, Sinarmas as a Corporate Advisor, and Intibios Lab, Clinic and Pharmacy as the CEO.

Jayant Menon, Ph.D. joined the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute in 2020 as Senior Fellow to continue his work on trade and development in the Asian region, following a long career at the Asian Development Bank (ADB). His last post at the ADB was Lead Economist in the Office of the Chief Economist. He began work life as an academic in Australia, spending almost a decade at the Centre of Policy Studies at Monash University, world-renowned for computable general equilibrium modelling. He also worked at the University of Melbourne, Victoria University, the American University in Washington, DC and the ADB Institute in Tokyo. He has served as a Board Director of CDRI, Cambodia, and on the Advisory Board of the University of Nottingham, Malaysia. He holds adjunct appointments with the Australian National University, University of Nottingham, UK and IDEAS, Malaysia. He has authored/edited more than 15 books, 50 chapters in books, and 80 articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Yasuyuki Todo, Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University, has been a Professor at the Graduate School of Economics, Waseda University since 2014, after serving as Department Head at the University of Tokyo. He is also a Program Director at the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry. His research focuses on empirical international and development economics, currently focusing on the role of social and economic network in economic growth and resilience. He has published nearly 70 papers in refereed journals such as Nature Sustainability, World Development, and Ecological Economics. Ranked among the top 0.5% of economists globally, according to ScholarGPS, he serves on policy-advising committees for the Japanese government, such as the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy and the Industrial Structure Council, and is a board member of the Japanese Society of International Economics and Tokyo Center for Economic Research.

Wendy Cutler is Vice President at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) and the managing director of the Asia Society’s Washington, D.C. office. She focuses on leading initiatives that address challenges related to trade, investment, and economic security, as well as women’s empowerment in Asia. Wendy draws on her extensive network across Asia and the US Government to grow ASPI’s presence in Washington and promote policy exchange. She has published a series of ASPI papers on the Asian trade landscape and serves as a regular media commentator on trade and investment developments in Asia and the world. She joined ASPI following an illustrious career of nearly three decades as a diplomat and negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), where she also served as Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative. During her USTR career, she worked on a range of bilateral, regional, and multilateral trade negotiations and initiatives, including the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, U.S.-China negotiations, and the WTO Financial Services negotiations.

Jane Mellsop (moderator) is the Director of Trade, Investment, and Economic Security at the Asia Society Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. She specializes in international trade and economic security issues, leveraging her extensive public policy background. During her tenure as a diplomat with the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Jane served as the Senior Trade Adviser to New Zealand's Minister for Trade and Export Growth. In this role, she played a pivotal part in advising the Minister on key trade initiatives, including the launch of the IPEF, implementation of the CPTPP, and conclusion of bilateral FTA negotiations with the UK and the EU. Her previous responsibilities included Chief Legal Counsel for negotiation and implementation of several free trade agreements, such as the RCEP and the New Zealand - Korea FTA. Jane also represented New Zealand in the Netherlands as part of her earlier diplomatic assignments. Jane was also a Fellow and Director of Research at the Public Policy Forum, a major Canadian think tank based in Ottawa.