Asia-Pacific leaders call for shared trade benefits as APEC Summit concludes

Facing deepening fractures in the global trade order, Asia-Pacific leaders adopted a joint declaration that emphasised the need for resilience and shared benefits in trade at the end of the annual APEC Summit on Saturday.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting, hosted by South Korea this year, unfolded under the shadow of rising geopolitical tensions and aggressive economic strategies — ranging from US tariffs to China’s export controls — that have pressured global trade. Ahead of the gathering, US President Donald Trump announced trade deals with a number of countries, including China and South Korea. But he left before the summit kicked off.

Washington’s views, however, remained on display in the declaration, analysts said, which, unlike last year’s document, did not mention multilateralism or the World Trade Organisation.

“It is a result of member countries acknowledging, at least to some degree, that it will be difficult to restore a free trade order based on multilateralism and the World Trade Organisation,” said Heo Yoon, a professor of international trade at Sogang University in Seoul.

“We cannot deny anymore that there is a paradigm shift in the global trade order.” With Trump’s swift exit before the summit, China sought to position itself as a steady advocate of free and open trade, a role the US had dominated for decades.

China would host the next year's APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in November 2026, Xi announced on Saturday. The 2026 summit of leaders of 21 Asian and Pacific Rim nations would be held at Shenzhen, he said while speaking at the concluding session of this year's meeting being held at Gyeongju in South Korea. Next year's summit will be China's third APEC leaders' meeting as a host.

After Trump's talks with Xi on Thursday, Trump told the media that he would cut the "fentanyl tariff" from 20 per cent to 10 per cent, which would bring the overall tariff on China from 57 per cent to 47 per cent.

China has agreed to lift the export controls on the much-needed rare-earth metals required for manufacturing mobile phones to fighter jets and imports of US Soybeans, while the US agreed to lift restrictions on the export of semi-conductor chips.