Singapore - APEC summit

US endorses Pacific trade bloc, but criticisms continue

Article published on the 2009-11-14 Latest update 2009-11-14 16:56 TU

US President Barack Obama arrives in Singapore Saturday
(Photo: Reuters)

US President Barack Obama is in Singapore to join a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders as part of a nine-day Asian tour that will also take him to China and South Korea. Ahead of the summit, which is devoted to driving the world economy out of crisis, the US has been accused of backtracking on free trade.

Obama is expected to catch the end of a dinner with 20 other leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) forum on Saturday night, before taking part in the summit proper on Sunday.

Before Obama’s arrival from Tokyo, Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Saturday complained about US foot-dragging on full implementation of the NAFTA pact for North America.

"The cruel paradox is that within a global economy, what really kills companies is inefficiency and lack of competition. Therefore protectionism is killing North American companies," Calderon said.

"So I think this has to do with the fact that the US government is under strong political pressure that really is not being counteracted from the political perspective" of the Obama administration.

But in a speech in the Japanese capital, Obama reaffirmed a US commitment to concluding the World Trade Organisation's Doha round of talks - a long-running bid to tear down barriers to global commerce.

And he said the United States was interested in an obscure trade pact that leaders say could become the nucleus for a massive trans-Pacific free-trade zone covering 2.6 billion people.

"The United States will also be engaging with the Trans-Pacific Partnership countries with the goal of shaping a regional agreement that will have broad-based membership and the high standards worthy of a 21st century trade agreement," he said.

A central theme of the APEC summit is that the world economy must be rebalanced so that the United States is no longer the sole cylinder firing global growth.