The U.S. failed to deliver on its own commitment to the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) this week, a serious blow to its efforts to engage economically in Asia and with South Korea.

This setback emerged in San Francisco, where the 14 nations involved in IPEF made headway on some fronts, including supply chain resilience and anti-corruption measures. Yet they hit a wall on critical issues such as the regulation of data flows and goods produced through forced labor.

In particular, the so-called trade pillar of IPEF, a cornerstone of the framework, appears to be dead.

The breakdown will put further