Economic benefits of Free and Open Indo Pacific

Introduction
The Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy is a term describing a strategy championed by the United States and other Pacific Rim democracies, along with India, to promote democracy and economic growth in the region. The use of the term "Indo" and inclusion of India is viewed as being deliberate to reflect the importance of India in Asian economics and politics, and also to provide greater counterbalance to China, the region's most important non-democratic state (PTI, 2018). In the context of this strategy, free refers to sovereignty of nations to carve their own path, free from coercion of other states, and open refers to open infrastructure, the encouraging of greater regional infrastructure integration that comes as part of the strategy (Wong, 2018).
In addition to promoting democracy, the Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy will also promote economic growth in the region, in a few different ways. For one, the region's major democracies compromise some of the largest economies in the world, and if they work together for mutual benefit, that benefit will inherently focus on economic objectives. It is the in the interest of the free and open approach that India in particular be elevated in terms of its economic – and therefore political – status.
Greater levels of cooperation among these leading democracies will also allow them to work together to promote growth in other countries in the region, even if those countries are hesitant to adopt democratic reforms. As China's rise illustrates, democracy is not a prerequisite to economic growth, but there is a strong correlation between democracy and high levels of development.
Asia's Quad
The "quad" in the region refers to Japan, India, the United States and Australia (Mishra, 2013). This diverse group of nations essentially surrounds China and the Southeast Asia region. Strength for all four would mean that China would be to some extent contained – each country extending its sphere of influence outwards would provide multiple points of counterbalance. As of now, there is no formal trade agreement between these nations that comprise the Quad, but if the Free and Open Strategy encourages the development of economic cooperation between these nations, that will reduce trade barriers between them. Strengthening India is a key element of this – the other three are wealthy nations that are already regional or world powers, and unleashing India's economic potential through the reduction of barriers and strengthening of infrastructure would provide these nations with increased trade opportunities, in addition to building a greater counterbalance to Chinese influence.
One of the underlying economic principles at work in the concept of the Quad is that by reducing trade barriers between these nations, and other major regional players, greater economic ties will be forged. India is key to the dynamic, because the term "Indo" is specifically used to include India. India's economy is rapidly growing, and the country's size and untapped potential are more likely to help the Quad continue to grow and strengthen, whereas the developed economies of the US, Japan and Australia will see much slower growth.
However, the US is necessary to the success of the Quad's economic rise. Japan's economic growth is very slow, and Australia's economy is simply not large enough, so it is integral that the US serves as the anchor for the Quad. Without the support of the US, in terms of spearheading tariff reductions and infrastructure investment, Japan and Australia together will not be able to influence change in India's economy fast enough to provide any meaningful counterbalance to China. The US is therefore seen as the critical driver of change at the heart of creating economic growth within this Quad of countries. In particular, the US is the only nation capable of countering China militarily, and it is the rise of militaristic China that has created this renewed pivot of Asian countries towards the Indo-Pacific concept (Pant, 2017).
US Competitiveness and Growth
Without the Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy, there might not be much incentive to create strong trade links between the nations of the Quad, and other key Asian powers. However, the strategy creates strong incentive to increase trade between these nations, if only to create linkages, and increase the economic clout of India (Rajagopalan, 2018) – and the necessity of ongoing US military presence in the region. Trade links, born of the motivations underlying the FOIP strategy, will result in job growth in each of the nations involved, but in India especially, as this trade will result in wealth transfer from the wealthy nations to India. But each country should enjoy the economic benefits –jobs included – of freer trade throughout the Indo-Pacific region.
The US will gain preferential access to the major foreign markets in the region. Until now, many Asian nations – and India as well – have taken somewhat protectionist stances to trade, in order to build their domestic economies. However, the FOIP will demand that trade is more open between these nations, and that should mean reductions in tariffs and other trade barriers for US goods and investment. Opening of trade will be critical to ensure that Asian nations receive incoming investment flows, as those flows will help them growth more rapidly. So the FOIP should result in US companies having greater access to Asian economies, something that should in turn result in greater American competitiveness, as the cost of doing business in Asia is reduced.
Impact on Other Nations
The FOIP strategy will not just benefit the Asia Quad. Other nations in the region will also see success, should the Trump Administration bring this vision to reality. There are a few reasons for this. First, the ultimate goal of the strategy is to foster democracy in the region, to counterbalance China's growing influence. By providing some breathing room for other Asian nations to limit Chinese influence on their political and economic existence, FOIP will give other Asian nations the space that they need to meet their goals, be they launching satellites as in Indonesia or just providing a baseline level of economic growth for their people.
The second reason is that FOIP will rely not just on the Quad nations, but on ASEAN nations as well. There will need to be investment in those nations in order to help strengthen them. By reducing trade barriers throughout the region, many nations will benefit, not just the Quad nations, and ultimately this broad-based economic success is integral to a strategy that intends to foster democracy and create stronger relationships throughout the region, reducing overall reliance on China.
The third reason is that these other nations will be more confident in equipping themselves against the influence of major powers because they will be able to balance these relationships. They will be encouraged to invest in each other, and to leverage investment of both democracies and non-democracies alike. Overall, should the Trump Administration succeed with this initiative, it will result in the strengthening of many nations in the region, not just India, and not just a handful of already-wealthy nations. Even if ASEAN and other Asian countries do not become democratic as a result of this initiative, they will be able to have better infrastructure for trade, and would not be dependent on China to build that infrastructure – as happened to Sri Lanka. Avoiding such situations will be something positive that would come out of successful implementation of the FOIP strategy.
References
Mishra, V. (2013) India and the rise of the Indo-Pacific. The Diplomat. Retrieved October 3, 2018 from https://thediplomat.com/2013/09/india-and-the-rise-of-the-indo-pacific/

Pant, H. (2017). Take note: Asia's quad is back. The Diplomat. Retrieved October 3, 2018 from https://thediplomat.com/2017/11/take-note-asias-quad-is-back/

PTI (2018) Indo-Pacific over Asia-Pacific reflects India's rise: US official. Economic Times. Retrieved October 3, 2018 from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/indo-pacific-over-asia-pacific-reflects-indias-rise-us-official/articleshow/61519684.cms

Rajagopalan, R. (2018). How the Indo-Pacific concept is changing the power dynamics in Asia. World Economic Forum. Retrieved October 3, 2018 from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/09/how-the-indo-pacific-concept-is-changing-the-power-dynamics-in-asia

Wong, A. (2018) Briefing on the Indo-Pacific strategy. US Department of State. Retrieved October 3, 2018 from https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2018/04/280134.htm