U.S. Hosts APEC A2C2 Regional Roundtable on Supply Chain Connectivity in Mexico City

The APEC Alliance for Supply Chain Connectivity (A2C2) is a public‑private advisory group within APEC that focuses on making regional supply chains more efficient and resilient. Created in 2014, it brings together government officials, companies, industry associations, multilateral institutions, and NGOs from APEC economies to share experience, identify bottlenecks, and suggest practical solutions for APEC’s Supply Chain Connectivity Framework (currently SCFAP III, 2022–2026). It operates through periodic meetings (often on the margins of APEC Senior Officials’ Meetings) where members hold open dialogues, review data on key “chokepoints” such as poor digitalization or infrastructure, and recommend non‑binding best practices and capacity‑building projects to APEC’s Committee on Trade and Investment, rather than setting enforceable rules.

APEC (Asia‑Pacific Economic Cooperation) is an inter‑governmental forum of 21 “member economies” around the Pacific Rim that works to promote freer, easier, and more secure trade and investment in the Asia‑Pacific region. The 21 participating economies are: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), Thailand, the United States, and Viet Nam.

Based on the official readouts available, the Mexico City A2C2 Regional Roundtable did not announce specific new binding commitments. The U.S. State Department describes it as a forum where APEC members and private‑sector experts:

• built on 2025 SOM3 discussions about expanding participation and private‑sector engagement,
• identified regional and global best practices for supply‑chain digitalization, and
• discussed how to “operationalize” those practices in their own economies. Publicly stated “next steps” are therefore general: economies are expected to take these ideas home, feed them into ongoing A2C2 and SCFAP III work, and consider reforms to their own trade and customs procedures, rather than implement a specific, jointly agreed action plan announced at this meeting.

Digitalization of trade and customs procedures means replacing paper‑based, manual steps in cross‑border trade with electronic, automated ones. In practice, for governments it includes systems like:

• “Single windows” where traders submit all documents and data electronically through one portal instead of multiple agencies;
• Electronic certificates of origin, licenses, and permits rather than physical documents;
• Risk‑management and data‑analytics tools so customs can pre‑screen shipments and inspect fewer, higher‑risk consignments. For businesses, it means filing documents online, using digital signatures and e‑invoices, tracking shipments in real time, and often getting faster, more predictable clearance at the border. APEC’s customs and trade facilitation work highlights these tools (single windows, e‑certificates, paperless trade, and pilots using technologies like AI and blockchain) as core elements of “supply‑chain digitalization.”

Within APEC, Senior Officials’ Meetings (SOM1, SOM2, SOM3, etc.) are the main working‑level gatherings where senior officials from all 21 economies coordinate and drive the year’s agenda. SOM3 is the third such meeting in the annual cycle and typically clusters dozens of committee and working‑group sessions, including trade, customs, and digital‑economy work.

According to the U.S. State Department, the Mexico City A2C2 Regional Roundtable “expands on efforts made during the APEC 2025 Third Senior Officials Meeting (SOM3) in Incheon, Korea,” where economies prioritized expanding participation in A2C2 and explored new ways to involve the private sector. The Mexico City event is presented as a follow‑on implementation step: continuing that SOM3 agenda by bringing officials and businesses together to deepen work on supply‑chain digitalization and resilience.

If APEC economies act on the roundtable’s discussions, the main effects for U.S. stakeholders would come through smoother, more resilient trade with APEC partners:

• For U.S. businesses: more digital, harmonized customs procedures in partner economies can mean fewer documents, faster clearance, lower compliance costs, andbetter predictability when exporting to or sourcing from the region. The State Department frames this as helping U.S. firms “expand opportunities across the region” and “recover quickly when supply chain disruptions occur.”
• For U.S. importers/exporters operationally: wider use of electronic certificates, single windows, and risk‑based inspections in APEC can shorten shipping times and reduce delays at foreign ports and borders.
• For U.S. consumers: if supply chains become more resilient and efficient, that can reduce some logistics costs and vulnerability to shocks, which in turn can help with availability of goods and, at the margin, price stability, although the exact impact depends on how fully economies implement the reforms. These expectations are consistent with prior APEC trade‑facilitation initiatives, which have been estimated to cut business transaction costs in the region by several percent when implemented.