In a letter to President Joe Biden, Congressman Mike San Nicolas has urged the Administration to ensure that Territories are included in plans to secure and update existing U.S. Free Trade Agreements.

The letter is in response to Biden's recent announcement during his visit to Tokyo, of the countries that are joining the new Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. The framework has 13 members, including the U.S., that account for 40% of global gross domestic product: Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

"We share the same goal of ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific as will deliver greater prosperity and greater opportunity for all of our children. So let us all take all the tasks that we have together, work together, coming out of this launch and to speed our progress toward that goal and work rapidly to develop the first commitments," sais the president.

San Nicolas in his letter states, "Mindful inclusion of Guam in Free Trade negotiations will enable us to capitalize on export-oriented opportunies while still maintaining our Duty Free status."