Much has been made of the Obama administration’s policy “pivot” to Asia,

Much has been made of the Obama administration’s policy “pivot” to Asia, increasing diplomatic outreach and rebalancing and repositioning a range of military assets in the Asia-Pacific region. But missing from this shift is a “business pivot”—a more concerted effort to deepen economic ties between the two sides of the Pacific. Moves to increase trade and investment between America and its allies in the region would be good strategy, and good economics too.

So far, Washington appears to be thinking of Southeast Asia—and particularly the problem of growing Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea—in primarily military terms. In June, U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta announced plans to base 60% of U.S. naval forces in the Asia-Pacific region by 2020.

Yet as America deepens its alliances in the region, it pays to think about the “quality” of the allies. Adding a pro-growth, pro-business component to U.S. strategy could help Asian countries become stronger, more confident partners. Commercial ties also can help cement friendships. Beijing understands this, which is one reason Chinese companies have been investing heavily in the region.

A business pivot would be more a matter of refocusing energy to extend earlier successes than starting from scratch. A significant U.S.-Asia economic and trade foundation exists that can be built on. In Southeast Asia, for example, U.S. exports exceeded $76 billion in 2011. At the moment, American companies also have invested twice as much in the region as they have in China. To cite one example, Ford is investing $450 million in a new Thai plant that will employ 2,200; Ford is the second-largest automotive investor in Thailand after Toyota, having pumped in $2.5 billion over the years. Its success in Asia is to the benefit of the United States.

But whereas the Chinese are now actively encouraging greater overseas investment to catch up, Washington has lost focus. America needs more than the occasional trade mission.

The first step in a business pivot needs to be an explicit recommitment to free trade broadly and free-trade agreements (FTAs) specifically. For the past three years, too little has been done to advance a free-trade agenda beyond ratifying—after long delays—agreements initiated by prior U.S. administrations.

In the Asia-Pacific region, the U.S. has FTAs with only Australia, Singapore and South Korea. Negotiations continue toward a regional Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) multilateral trade agreement. Yet, the U.S. commitment to this agreement, while welcome, again pre-dates the present administration.

New initiatives are warranted either from the current administration or from a new president if one is elected in November. Washington could set a firm deadline for concluding TPP talks. Recently the focus seems to be more on expanding the number of participants—Canada and Mexico recently joined, and Japan might—than on concluding negotiations. While businesses would benefit from a deal covering as many countries as possible, the number of countries is irrelevant if expanding participation means there’s no deal at all.

Washington also should look for opportunities to improve trade on a day-to-day basis. Logistics and transport are obvious cases. A low-profile but important move would be to boost negotiations on open skies agreements in Asia. Such deals allow airlines, including freight carriers, greater freedom to set routes and schedules between signatory countries.

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