MODERATOR: Good afternoon. Greetings from the U.S. Department of State's Asia Pacific Media Hub. It's my pleasure to welcome journalists to today's on-the-record briefing. Today, we are honored to be joined by Casey Mace, U.S. Senior Official to APEC.

With that, let's get started. Senior Official Mace, I'll turn it over to you for your opening remarks.

SENIOR OFFICIAL MACE: Very good. Thank you for hosting me, and thanks to all the journalists that have called in to hear from myself on behalf of the large U.S. team in Dalian, China, that's been here for the last two weeks to continue to advance American leadership - economic leadership - in the region.

Just by way of framing our participation here, I wanted to highlight that the U.S. views APEC as a key dimension to President Trump's successful America First trade and economic policies that are boosting U.S. exports to the Asia Pacific region and attracting record amounts of investment into the U.S. economy. APEC is a premier platform for the United States to shape economic policies in the region, bolster American competitiveness, and open markets to a broad range of important sectors for our export economy.

This past two weeks, APEC economies converged in Dalian, China, to participate in what's called the Senior Official Meeting, the Third Senior Official Meeting cluster. The United States had over 100 participants - I believe the largest delegation, visiting delegation, of any of the economies. I was proud to lead more than seven U.S. interagency colleagues to participate, along with a number of our private sector partners.

And the two weeks of meetings and workshops actually happened on the heels of one important ministerial meeting on forestry that China hosted that we participated in, and the - it also included the Food Security Ministerial Meeting that took place over the last two weeks. So since the last time I was in China and had the opportunity to speak to press, we have participated in those two ministerials, and we're pleased to achieve some important wins for the United States.

At the Forestry Ministerial, we were able to achieve support among all member economies to elevate the importance of addressing illegal logging, which has been a big priority for the United States, because illegal logging practices in the region really disadvantage American lumber and timber exports. And because we were able to achieve support from our - from member economies on this priority, we also achieved support for work that we've been proposing for years to conduct workshops with policy experts from all of the member economies on how to address this in a more coordinated and aggressive way.

At the Food Security Ministerial Meeting, we were very happy to engender support for the export of U.S. biotech, which is a major focus of our overseas agricultural engagement. And specifically, support for science-based and evidence-based technology-enabled agriculture, including using tools such as AI and promoting advances in agricultural biotechnology.

In addition to those two ministerial meetings, I mentioned that we're - I'm in town for the Senior Official Meeting cluster, where the United States led four workshops on ocean tech, which promoted U.S. ocean technologies to help governments in the region address illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, as well as addressing issues like marine debris. We led a workshop on trade and services that was aimed to help governments address burdensome restrictions and expand market access to American digital services exports.

We led a workshop on supply chain resilience and making trade more frictionless, making supply chains more resilient for the United States and our exports. So we addressed things like paperless trade and how customs officials can better use tools like paper, digital trade documents, to make trade more efficient.

And finally, we led a workshop on labor, which has been another big and important focus area for us, to try to promote a more harmonized approach to labor practices. There's a number of labor practices in the region that don't meet U.S. standards, and as a result, makes the American worker less competitive. And so by leading a workshop on this, we expect to see better policies that bring the standards in the region up.

So those were the big focuses for the United States over the last two weeks. We had lots of very fruitful exchanges with counterparts from the 21 APEC member economies, and we continue to feel like APEC is serving the United States and the President's America First foreign and trade policies well, allowing us to help shape the business environment and the regulatory environment in the region - as I said, to open up markets to U.S. exports and to support the thriving U.S. private sector in the region.

So maybe I'll stop there, and very happy to take questions from the journalists on the call.

MODERATOR: Thank you, sir. We will then turn to the question-and-answer portion of today's briefing.

Our first question goes to a journalist who pre-submitted their question, from Sopheng In, Kampuchea Thmey from KPT English in Cambodia. I see you're on the line, so I will go ahead and give you permission to unmute yourself, and please pose your question.

QUESTION: Hello?

MODERATOR: Go ahead, Sopheng, we can hear you.

QUESTION: I would like to ask the question about the U.S.: How can the U.S. can support the Cambodia in order, when the Cambodia aims to graduate from the LDC in 2029, especially in energy? Thank you.

SENIOR OFFICIAL MACE: Thank you for your question. And although Cambodia isn't a member economy in APEC, and so in my role I don't have a very direct role with Cambodia in this APEC environment, I know that the United States has been very pleased with the development of our bilateral relationship, and of course, the signing of an ART; an agreement on reciprocal trade with Cambodia was an important milestone and step forward for our economic relationship.

So, I know that our - my colleagues in Washington that work on the Cambodia relationship are excited about the opportunities for both of our countries under this new agreement of reciprocal trade.

MODERATOR: Thank you, sir. Our next question goes to Qingting Zheng from 21st Century Business Herald, China. Qingting, please unmute yourself, and please go ahead.

QUESTION: Okay, can you hear me? Thank you very much. My question is: Compared with the past two years, how would you characterize the level of U.S. engagement in APEC this year? What does United States see as the core value of APEC today? Is APEC becoming more important as a platform for advancing U.S. economic interest in the Asia Pacific? Thank you.

SENIOR OFFICIAL MACE: Great, thank you for your question. And I would say that our participation this year in APEC has been consistent with the prior years. The United States is proud to be one of the largest participants across all of these sets of meetings, an active participant in the ministerials. And so - and we were, from the very beginning of the year, committed to participating in a robust and active way during China's host year. So we've participated - I think China at this point has now hosted nine ministerial meetings, or ministerial-level meetings, and three Senior Official Meeting clusters, and the United States has been very active in contributing and participating in all of those.

MODERATOR: Thank you, sir. Our next question goes to Phuong Anh from VTC News. I see you have a question in the Q&A chat, so I will go - we'll go ahead and give you the permission to speak, so please unmute yourself and go ahead.

QUESTION: Hello, can you hear me?

SENIOR OFFICIAL MACE: Yes.

QUESTION: Thank you. I have two questions. The first one is: As Vietnam prepares to host APEC in 2027, what key outcomes would the U.S. like to see, and where could the country continue to work together? Like, in which areas?

And the second question is: What is your advice that you would offer to Vietnam as it prepares to host APEC in 2027, particularly on building consensus among the economies? Thank you.

SENIOR OFFICIAL MACE: Thank you. I would say the United States is very supportive of Vietnam's plans to host APEC next year. And I've had some very good - already some very good engagements with Vietnamese leaders that are responsible for organizing APEC next year to share our suggestions and recommendations on what we think will be important for a successful APEC year, and have been happy with the level of commitment that they're bringing to it, and the energy and the ideas, I would say, have been - it's been a very positive sign.

The U.S. private sector is looking very much forward to Vietnam's APEC host year. I've heard from many of our private sector counterparts that they're interested in being actively involved and supportive. Vietnam is an important economy in Southeast Asia, an important economic partner for the United States. And so with Vietnam hosting APEC next year, we see it as a real opportunity to continue to strengthen our own bilateral economic relationship, but also because Vietnam is such an important economy in Southeast Asia, it will be a great opportunity for us to continue to strengthen our partnerships in the region and the opportunities for U.S. businesses in the region.

In terms of our priorities, they'll be the same as they are this year and that they were last year. The United States is focused on extending our energy, dominance, and exports, so we've been working very actively in APEC and in other areas to expand American energy exports. American AI and digital exports has been a real focus, and the region is very interested in accelerating the adoption of AI. They are starting to really appreciate and understand the potential that AI offers, and of course, American AI companies offer the leading AI solutions right now in the world, and our AI tech stack - all of the infrastructure and hardware that supports artificial intelligence - is also leading in the field. And so we continue to work with governments and partners in the region to expand opportunities for that and to help economies in the region understand what AI offers, and the potential it offers, and how it will help them achieve their economic goals.

MODERATOR: Thank you. Our next question goes to Colum Murphy from Bloomberg. Colum, if you can please unmute yourself and go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you, Ambassador Mace. I just wanted to ask a couple of short questions. Is there any particular reason why the delegation this time seems to be bigger than, say, the last two occasions? Maybe I'm wrong on that one, but just curious. And can we talk a little bit about the Shenzhen Leaders Summit coming up and the accompanying business summit? So for the business summit, have we any more clarity about how that will look? Do we know of any companies that have already signed on or will be - will be coming to that?

And then finally, I'd just ask: Have you any sense whether President Trump will come to the Leaders Summit as per what's commonly understood to be the case? Are you in any sort of direct planning with his office to make sure that that happens?

That's it, thank you.

SENIOR OFFICIAL MACE: Thanks, Colum. Thanks for your questions. Great that you're part of this call. I'll take the questions in order.

In terms of our - the size of our delegation at this set of meetings, it is larger than the last two, but that's actually consistent with APEC years, because this cluster of senior - this cluster of the Third Senior Official Meeting involves a lot - tends to involve a lot more workshops and work streams. So every APEC year, we tend to have the largest delegation at the third - at SOM3.

In terms of Shenzhen and the plans for the CEO Summit, we received some information, but not much, actually. It's - because it's being organized by the Chinese, the business group that's responsible for it, CCPIT, they are communicating their plans directly with our NCAPEC, which is our private sector national committee for APEC and the other economies. And we understand that the planning for that continues to evolve, so U.S. companies are submitting - have already - we know have raised their interest in attending. I think there's some application process that they're involved in pursuing.

I highlighted to the Chinese Government officials that I met with that we really believe that private sector engagement is really one of APEC's defining strengths, and really makes it unique among many of the other international organizations. So having a really robust CEO Summit that allows for the participation of CEOs from other economies, including the United States, is really important and really does - is a mark of success for any APEC host year. And so I encourage them to - for the Chinese Government to make sure that they're staying connected with the plans on the CEO Summit to make sure that they're allowing for the broadest participation possible from the United States and other economies, and they pledged that they would continue to do that. So we are expecting the U.S. private sector and U.S. businesses to be in Shenzhen for the CEO Summit, which we think is really important.

And then finally, regarding President Trump's possible attendance, I would say nothing to announce or to confirm. As you would know, Colum, the President has indicated, after his meetings with President Xi, support for China's APEC year as China has expressed support for the United States G20 host year. And so that continues to be a topic of conversation between the two leaders, and we should have more to share in the coming months on the President's participation.

MODERATOR: Thank you. Our next question goes to a journalist from Papua New Guinea. I don't see Fidelis Wasari from South Pacific Post is on the line, so I will go ahead and read the question for the record: "Given that over 80 percent of PNG's population relies on local agriculture, how can the U.S. Government help our farmers and fishermen export their produce to markets in America, Europe, and key trade partners?"

SENIOR OFFICIAL MACE: Well, it's a good question because, actually, U.S. agricultural exports are really important for the U.S. economy as well. And so we are very active in APEC in promoting open markets for agricultural exports, and I believe that the work we're doing to open agricultural markets for U.S. exports also helps PNG and other economies in terms of accessing the market.

Some of the things that we've been particularly focused on over the course of the last year has been on food safety, regulations to make sure food safety regulations are - meet high standards but are also harmonized so that our U.S. goods that do meet high food safety standards are accepted by markets in the region, and I think that only helps economies like PNG as well.

And as I said, I think that the U.S. biotechnology exports, the work that the U.S. companies are doing on genome editing, and the use of AI in agricultural practices, is cutting-edge. It's leading to greater crop yields and productivity in the agricultural sector, and we're very excited to be able to bring those kinds of solutions to markets, including PNG.

So I think that as those U.S. exports are adopted by farmers across the Asia Pacific region, including in PNG, the agricultural sectors in all of these economies will improve.

MODERATOR: Thank you. Our next question goes to Samantha Beltran from South China Morning Post. I see you have a question in the Q&A box, so please go ahead and pose your question live to the senior official, please.

QUESTION: Good afternoon. So I have two questions for you. My first question is: What priority areas are you looking at for investments, particularly for Southeast Asian APEC members?

And my second question has to do with tariffs. So how are you viewing U.S. economic ties with APEC members in relation to these Section 301 tariffs, many of whom have been hit by these levies? And I understand that there is a new report that the U.S. is considering tariffs on semiconductors. Can you share anything about whether these discussions came up with countries that are expecting to be affected, such as Taiwan and South Korea? Thank you.

SENIOR OFFICIAL MACE: Well, thank you. In terms of priority areas for investment in Southeast Asia, I'm interpreting that to mean for U.S. investment in the region. I would say that AI and digital - our digital exports have been a real focus area, and a real growth area that U.S. industry has been increasing exports and investments in those sectors in the region. There's really strong interest in the region to embrace American technology, American digital solutions and AI solutions. And so that will continue to be a real growth area, and I think it's really going to be transformative for the region in terms of improving the economic output, performance, and quality of life in the region. So we're really excited to continue to focus on promoting those areas.

In terms of tariffs, I would just say that President Trump has been very focused on rebalancing trade, making trade more fair for the United States, and has pursued and used a number of tools, including tariffs, to bring greater balance to the U.S. trade, which has grown - it's grown really imbalanced in ways that have harmed the U.S. economy for many years. Tariffs is one of the tools that is being used.

The work that we do in APEC is another, because by opening markets to U.S. exports, it will also serve to help rebalance trade in a fairer way and lead to more sustainable trade that is supported by all sectors of all of our economies.

So we're encouraged by the progress we're making through APEC to open more markets. We believe that the work we're doing is meaningful and important and yielding results. We believe that the tariffs that the United States is using is also yielding important results for the United States economy.

MODERATOR: Thank you, sir. Our next question goes to Dimitri Bruyas from TVBS News in Taiwan. Dimitri, please unmute yourself and go ahead.

QUESTION: Sorry, can you hear me?

SENIOR OFFICIAL MACE: Yes.

QUESTION: Okay. Sir, I was wondering, how does Taiwan fit into the U.S. supply chain resilience strategies with APEC, and particularly regarding technology cooperation?

SENIOR OFFICIAL MACE: Well, thank you. Taiwan is a really important export market for the United States, and Taiwan is investing even more in the United States, and so Taiwan is a very important economic partner for us. Taiwan has also been an important partner in some of our initiatives on the supply chain front, like the Pax Silica initiative that the United States announced last year, which is focused on the supply chain for AI and to make sure it's secure and robust.

And so, with partners like Taiwan and other partners of Pax Silica, we've been very focused on investing in areas to make the AI supply chain serve our economies, our private sectors in ways that are more resilient and reliable.

MODERATOR: Thank you, sir. We have time for one more question, and the last question will go to Nada, Jakarta Globe - I'm sorry, Jayanty Nada Shofa from Jakarta Globe. Please unmute yourself and go ahead.

QUESTION: Hi, my name is Nada from the Jakarta Globe. So how will U.S. plan to translate the America First agenda in its cooperation with Indonesia? And a specific question on critical minerals: Is the U.S. looking to step up cooperation in critical minerals since Indonesia is abundant in nickel and copper? Thank you.

SENIOR OFFICIAL MACE: Great, thank you for your question. Indonesia is a really important economic partner for the United States. And on the critical minerals front, that has been a real priority for the United States. And so we've been looking at ways to strengthen our cooperation on the critical minerals front with Indonesia.

I would say, with Indonesia, we also recently were - reached an agreement on an agreement on reciprocal trade in art, a reciprocal trade agreement which was really important to - once ratified is, I think, going to lead to even more opportunities for our two economies and strengthen the economic partnership.

Part of that is - an element of that is address critical minerals, but we're looking to do even more on the critical minerals front. It's an important priority that the United States develop critical mineral supply chains that aren't dependent on one country. And many of our partners share that same goal, and so we've been able to do - we've signed something like 40 different MOUs with countries to strengthen our critical mineral partnership and work on the critical mineral supply chain. The United States has announced some major investments on the critical minerals front, to include critical mineral investments in places like Australia, places like Japan; we did a critical minerals announcement with our Quad partners - Japan, India, and Australia.

So there's - that Indonesia, we believe can be an important partner for us on this, and we would like to formalize some of this partnership, and we're looking at ways to do that.

MODERATOR: Thank you. So we are out of time for Q&A, so before we conclude, we'll turn it back to you, sir, for any final closing remarks.

SENIOR OFFICIAL MACE: Great. Thank you for your interest in APEC, and for your interest in United States efforts at APEC. I'll just echo what I said at the beginning, that we believe APEC is the premier platform in the region to allow the United States to shape the policies, the business environment, the regulatory environment, in ways that will open more markets to U.S. exports and bring greater benefits to the American economy.

We have been very excited about the support that we continue to build among our partners for our efforts at APEC. The workshops that we've been leading have garnered a lot of participation, and so - and our ability to achieve new levels of support for our priorities across these ministerials, like at the Food Security Ministerial, like at the Forestry Ministerial; the Trade Ministerial that happened earlier this year, we received support for some of our priorities there, including on intellectual property right protection.

So the work that we're doing at APEC is really delivering results for the United States economy, and I look forward to coming back to China in November for the concluding Senior Official Meeting and for the APEC Leaders Week.

Thank you very much.

MODERATOR: Thank you, sir, and thank you all for joining us today. We will provide a transcript of this briefing to all participating journalists as soon as it's available. And if you have any feedback or further questions, please feel free to contact us at [email protected]. Thanks again for your participation, and we hope you can join us for another briefing very soon. Have a great weekend. Thanks, everyone.

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