Pacific Trade Summit Closes Amid Anti-Trade Climate

Prime Minister John Key’s proposal to rename the Trans Pacific Partnership the Trump Pacific Partnership was in jest, but he said it did reflect a strong wish by the other 11 countries not to let the agreement go down the drain. The deal, which excluded China, was meant to give those 11 nations more leverage in that strained match by providing them with a viable economic alternative.

“The FTAAP will lead to more investment opportunities in and outside China”.

The RCEP, which would be the first pan-Asian trade deal ever, was launched by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2012 and has gone through 15 rounds of talks.

“We should deepen and expand co-operation in our region”, Xi said. “The United States has been working since the end of the Second World War to liberalize trade”. He told reporters that Beijing is intent on pushing for a far-reaching Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific.

“This is not based on ideology or opinion, this is based on the fact that Canada has benefited extraordinarily over the nearly 150 years of our existence – and well before that – from strong trading relationships with the Americans and indeed with the world”, Trudeau said, pointing to the auto sector.

Although free trade appears to be out of vogue with many voters around the world concerned about job losses, Mr Turnbull said the benefits of open markets for countries like Australia were enormous.

“The prospect of the USA turning inward in its economic strategy means that China has freer rein to become the focal point of regional integration efforts”.

“A more productive region and more competitive region”. “It’s only been 10 days since the election”, he said.

We need bilateral trade deals. And in visits on Tuesday and Thursday to Greece and Germany, he told panicked Europeans that Trump would preserve the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation alliance.

The two leaders also made in-depth exchange of views on other global and regional issues of shared concern, agreeing to safeguard peace and security in Northeast Asia, Central Asia and other regions neighboring their two countries. And Trump has won. The White House said last week it would not push for ratification.

President Barack Obama sought to reassure leaders here at an annual summit that the United States would continue to pursue closer ties with the Asia-Pacific region, even though Donald Trump’s presidency is sure to reshape America’s approach to the region.

The allegiances are starting to shift after Trump’s election.

“But, we don’t want to give a picture that “we are surrendering or given up on TPP”, we just got to continue hoping that it will become a reality”.

Sun Xiao from China’s Chamber of International Commerce blamed unequal distribution of free trade’s benefits for rising protectionism, and suggested it would be different under Chinese leadership.

The billionaire mogul campaigned against the proposal as a “terrible deal” that would “rape” the United States by sending American jobs to countries with cheaper labor.

Kroeber said China’s economic growth now depended much more on domestic spending rather than exports to the USA, so Beijing would be less concerned about “poaching influence from the US”.

Australia and Japan have been bargaining for years with China on the deal. Abe met with Trump on Thursday. Details of the discussion were not disclosed, but Trump was expected to encourage Japan to take a more active role in Asia.

However, the highly anticipated meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Obama did not take place in Lima – at least not officially. Obama will find that his counterparts are already getting pulled deeper into China’s economic riptide because of the pact’s demise. “There’s no doubt about that”.