APEC leaders unite to call for ‘predictable’ trade ahead of Trump presidency, as Gaza split continues

Rio de Janeiro: Asia-Pacific leaders have united to call for “free and predictable trade” as Donald Trump’s tariff shake-up looms, but were unable to reach consensus on Ukraine and Gaza for the second year in a row.

At the end of the two-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima, the 21 Asia-Pacific economic leaders stood united for the family photo, but they could not agree on whether the economic forum was the place to discuss the two conflicts.

Anthony Albanese and other like-minded leaders argued the conflicts “could be treated” at the forum because they were having direct economic impacts on the global economy, but others argued APEC — which includes China and Russia — was not the place to talk geopolitics.

The forum’s chair, Peruvian president Dina Boluarte, urged all economies to “uplift their commitment to the strengthening of APEC as an effective cooperation platform, based on consensus as its most important tool”.

The conflicts are also expected to be discussed at the G20, which begins in Brazil on Monday. However, Russia is expected to again hinder efforts to condemn the war in Ukraine, potentially emboldened by Mr Trump’s re-election.

There is unlikely to be a consensus on Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon either.

Before leaders left Peru, APEC leaders did stand united on free trade, reaffirming their support for the “rules-based multilateral trading system”.

They called for “predictability”, as uncertainty surrounds the global economic status quo given the incoming second Trump administration.

While they used the same terminology in the 2023 statement, the messaging is poignant this year given Mr Trump has vowed to impose tariffs of up to 20 per cent on foreign imports and slug Chinese goods with up to 60 per cent imposts.

Such an aggressive agenda would likely trigger a US-China trade war.

“We acknowledge the importance of, and will continue to work to deliver a free, open, fair, non-discriminatory, transparent, inclusive and predictable trade and investment environment,” the joint leaders statement said.

“We reaffirm our support for the rules-based multilateral trading system, with the WTO at its core, and remain committed to working toward necessary WTO reform, in order to improve all of its functions.”

The communique came just hours before outgoing US President Joe Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, where Mr Biden stressed the importance of not letting the consequential bilateral relationship veer into conflict.

After a nearly two hour meeting, Mr Xi warned against letting their relationship become more hostile.

“If we take each other as rivals or adversary, pursue vicious competition, and seek to hurt each other, we would roil the relationship or even set it back,” Mr Xi said.

Mr Biden said the two countries were “the most important alliance, or the most important relationship in the entire world, and how we’re getting along together can impact the rest of the world”.

“And so our two countries cannot let any of this competition veer into conflict. That’s our responsibility, and over the last four years I think we’ve proven it’s possible to have this relationship,” he said.

Mr Albanese, who landed in Rio de Janeiro late on Saturday night (local time) is hoping to meet with Mr Xi on the G20 sidelines.

If the meeting eventuates, it will come after China nominated Mr Albanese as a role model for other US allies as they prepare to balance relations with Beijing and the second Trump Administration.

Beijing, through the China Daily, said Mr Albanese had showed “strategic autonomy” amid “unprecedented geopolitical complexity and uncertainty” following Mr Trump’s election.

Mr Albanese on Friday (local time) said he didn’t “subscribe to China Daily”.

“What I’ve done with China is work in the way that we said we would before the election. We said we would cooperate where we can and we would disagree where we must and we would engage in our national interests. I’d done that without compromising any of Australia’s national interests,” Mr Albanese said.

Speaking to ABC’s Insiders, Mr Albanese denied Australia had had a “strategic autonomy shift” in its hard-line message on trade but was acting consistently.

“We are a trading nation, and we benefit from it. And it is about Australian jobs,” he said.

“We’ll continue to advocate for free and fair trade.”

Asked if he was worried about the prospect of a trade war, Mr Albanese again wouldn’t pre-empt what his administration “might do”.

“He clearly has an agenda, we will wait and see how that plays out,” he said.

“The role that Australia can play is to be a strong and consistent advocate for markets, for free and fair trade, for jobs to be created. Trade has not just benefited Australia… it has also lifted up this region”.

Mr Albanese said he hadn’t used his phone call with Mr Trump last week to ask for an exemption from his tariffs, but had instead “pointed out that the United States has a trade surplus with Australia”.

“Both the US and Australia benefit from the trade between our two countries,” he said.

“I am very confident we will put forward Australia’s national interest… I don’t want to pre-empt those decisions (about exemptions), but we will advocate for Australia’s national interests, that’s my job.”