Pacific rim leaders to
debate future of trade post-Trump
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[November 18, 2016]
By Rosalba O'Brien and Teresa Cespedes
LIMA
(Reuters) - Leaders of Pacific rim nations began gathering in Peru on
Friday seeking to salvage hopes for regional trade as prospects of a
Donald Trump presidency sounded a possible death knell for the U.S-led
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade pact.
Discussions between the 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) summit will be dominated by fears of rising
anti-globalization sentiment in the West, where many worry about losing
jobs to low-wage economies, and China's burgeoning role in global trade.
"The leaders will meet on Sunday and the first thing will be this very
issue (anti-globalization)," Alan Bollard, the APEC secretariat's
executive director, told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.
U.S. President Barack Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Russian
President Vladimir Putin are due to attend the summit that brings
together leaders whose economies represent 57 percent of global gross
domestic product.
While campaigning, President-elect Trump had labeled the TPP "a
disaster" and his populist stance on trade issues in some ways echoed
sentiments heard in Britain, when it voted in June to quit the European
Union.
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Though Obama championed the TPP, his administration has stopped trying
to win congressional approval for the deal that was signed by 12
economies in the Americas and Asia-Pacific, but excluded China.
Despite Trump's antipathy toward the TPP, Bollard said it was premature
to write it off, but he expected it to be shelved "for a year or so."
"I don't think we'll hear a lot on TPP for a while. We've got to wait
for the U.S. administration to get it through Congress, be clearer about
its policies, which we're not clear on," Bollard said.
China's Xi is expected to sell an alternate vision for regional trade by
promoting the Beijing-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership
(RCEP), which excludes the United States.
The Kremlin said Obama and Putin would likely speak on the sidelines of
the Lima summit, while a source said the leaders of Canada and Mexico
would discuss the potential impact a Trump presidency could have on the
NAFTA trade pact.
OPEN TO OPTIONS
Summit host Peru is one of the world's most open economies.
On Thursday, Peru's trade minister and his Indonesian counterpart agreed
to start negotiations for a bilateral free trade deal, potentially
adding to more than 20 such agreements Peru already has.
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![](../images/111816pics/busine47.jpg)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry (R) leave after their bilateral meeting at the APEC
Ministers Summit in Lima, Peru November 17, 2016. REUTERS/Mark
Ralston/Pool
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Peru has already said it would like to join a Beijing-backed trade pact,
though it hopes the TPP will eventually come to fruition as well.
Vice President Mercedes Araoz said several options would be discussed
among APEC members in coming days, including joining RCEP.
Others like Japan have expressed interest in continuing TPP negotiations
without the United States, she added.
"We are not going to start negotiations right away, but we probably will
have several paths we could take, always with the commitment of having a
free trade agreement in the Asia-Pacific region," Araoz told
journalists.
Australia's Trade Minister Steve Ciobo said he hoped negotiations on TPP
would continue, but in the meantime believed the Chinese-led agreement
presented a big opportunity.
"If we are able to successfully land it over the coming months or the
year ahead it would create again a terrific opportunity for Australian
businesses to export through a common set of rules across the region,”
he told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio.
(Additional reporting by Jamie Freed in Sydney; Writing by Caroline
Stauffer; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Meredith Mazzilli)
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